Starting off the youth season with a middle on U18B top division with the two biggest clubs and they are cross-town rivals. Should be a fun way to start! Need to also get my last Assessment in for my upgrade to 6 at some point before the Summer Adult Amateur league finishes.
I forgot to add that I got my Law book on Saturday, except it is defective. I was reading through and got really confused when I was the start of Other Match Officials, turned the page, and got "The referee must not compensate for a timekeeping error during the first half by changing the length of the second half." I started looking back at page numbers and my LOTG goes 67, 76-77, 70-71, 80-81, 74-75, 68-69, 78-79, 72-73, 82-83, 92-93, 86-87, 96-97, 90-91, 84-85(Which makes the headers of Laws 11, 10 and 8 on sequential pages). Starting with page 100 the book is back in order but it is quite annoying that US Soccer sent out this crap. I'm glad that I'm paying more money to US Soccer to upgrade...
Ours came from USSF but it is the official FIFA LOTG - could be a US printer (no idea) but it is not a different version nor does it have any USSF logo's or anything on it.
There was a similar printing issue with the books our state received last year. When I went to the Assessor/Instructor/Assignor meeting, our copy had six or so Laws in the middle printed upside down. A few weeks later at the Advanced referee recert I was given another copy and this one was normal.
it’s kinda silly but I’ve been wanting one of these for a while, and finally found one on eBay that I didn’t have to pay international shipping for. It’s too small to be a really good flipping coin, but I’ll keep it in my ref organizer all,the same.
I bought one of these in 2012 at the time of the London Olympics. Paid 5 or 6 dollars as I recall; tax deductible of course! I used it a number of times in HS girls matches. I explained what the coin was and the "Offside Explained" on the back. Then I said "if during the game I forget what offside is I'll pull out the coin and check." It always brought a laugh. Didn't try this for boys games, however.
My first assignments today since May. Summer is a pretty quiet season here, and I had a lot of travel and house guests. I had three games in a pre-season tournament. I centered a U11-U12. My first no header game. No intentional heading, so it wasn't an issue. Also ARed a couple of U14 games. One of the ARs for two of my games was a 15 year old girl - who somehow got assigned all 7 timeslots as AR! . She worked games 3 and 6 with me. She could barely move in game 6, but still managed to hustle to the corners. I think she learned a lesson about how many games to accept!
And to pay attention to what kind of games they are. The most I had done in one day was five. Once it was five U12 centers spaced way out...first at 8am, last at 6pm. The only other time I did five, it was two U12s back to back, a 90 minute break, two U10s back to back, a three hour break, then a U13 line. I was tired, but I wasn’t so fatigued I could not do the job. So a couple weekends ago I was assigned what I thought were seven U10s I thought I could do them. Turns out it was three U10s in a row, a U15 line, then three U10s in a row. After the U15, I wasn’t worth a darn. I should have paid more attention to what type of games before I accepted them.
This coming weekend I’m running a u11 line on Friday, then on Saturday I have a U15 line, U13 line, U14 line, then a 4 hour break and another u14 line. Sunday I have a U19 line, then a U15 semi and a U14 final. All lines. New assignor, so I felt that I shouldn’t be declining my first games from him that I’m getting, but I think I might have bitten off a little more than I can chew. Then Labor Day Weekend I have ANOTHER tournament where I’m getting looked at by the state’s youth mentoring program so I hope 4-5 days is enough recovery time for that. Oh, and first DA middle is in November! 3 days after my birthday so my assignor wanted me to get one before fall 2018 was over which is cool. Just hoping there isn’t a bunch of snow on the ground when I have my game: November 17!
Totally agree. Always a balancing act between my greed and my body. I was asked to be available for a tourney in Mass for next weekend. I wrote back and said 1 day (unless hotel) and 5 games max. I got back 7 (60 min) games (3C, 4AR) with breaks after every 3rd game. Thought about it and then turned back 3 games. Not gonna make my 57 yr old self miserable to make another $100 or so.
Greed vs health. Something I'm SLOWLY learning. Most I've done was 8 in a day on a Sunday after doing 6 the day before and coaching one game each day, had to spend about 1/3 of my pay on PT for some plantar issues. This past weekend, my daughter had her first of this season, and she's not super confident, so I went out to mentor her (local rec), before her match starts, the assignor asks if I can cover three games because someone didn't show up. I stupidly said "yes", then had 4 more the next day, then started H.S. season Monday and last night. Sometimes being the nice guy isn't worth it. Best story: Game on Monday, I ref the 2-man JV, and post match handshake one of my kids (I coach a LOT of kids) goes in for a hug, I didn't recognize him until then) Last night, during the run of play, a midfielder runs by and says "Hi Spencer!" Another kid I've coached. At halftime, a parent yells my name, and their sone, yet ANOTHER one of my players is actually a defender on the squad. I explain that on the field I don't really look at faces, I see shirts and numbers. My lack of personal recognition made me a little proud of myself for that...or maybe it's early onset dementia?
Spencer - sounds like you need to build up a crew of kid refs in your rolodex. Then when you get asked to do games you don't want, you can try to pass them on to those who would be grateful to get them! I know that is actually doing the assignors job for him, but in the end, both the assignor and refs will be thinking good things about you.
I’ve gotten assigned about a dozen HS games by my assignor. The preseason games just started yesterday.
Just started working with a new assignor this fall, got 8 games in a tournament, and 9 others. He assigned me 11 but I had to decline 2. Going to be a fun fall!
So I get assigned as AR2 for a mens league championship game. I do not know the CR, but looking forward to it. I see this kid walking across the field looking like the classic stoner. Think Sean Penn in Fast Times at Rigdgemont High. Long loose hair, winter hat (in August), socks all the way down. Looks barely 21. Easily the youngest person on the field. Classic case of don't judge book by cover. Kid ran his butt off the whole game - never stopped. Great communication with ARs. Made the right calls. Very hard played tight game. 2-2 tie until breakaway goal for the winner late. At least one player told him best reffed game they had all year. Never took the hat off either. I asked him about it after the game and he said that he usually wears a head band, but forgot it. And it turns out he is actually 27 and works as an accountant!
NSR, but good story from my perspective: just about to board the plane heading home after taking the youngest child to college for his freshman year. Montana State University may never be the same, but he'll be 700 miles away, so he gets to solve (most of) his own problems. He's got a car, a mountain bike, his books and an all you can eat meal plan, what else do you need?