Ah, but ten yards on a American football field is not necessarily ten yards on a soccer field! All you math majors out there please explain, but all I know is it isn't.
I agree. The strict authoritarian, almost @sshole types don’t seem to work in my experience. Something I do find tho and maybe could be the case for red jack. Is that it sounds like he is well versed in high school in his area. When I first started refereeing HS we had one referee he was an original (OG). Made players tuck their shirts in etc, very militaristic, didn’t put up with any crap and often talked crap to players if they tried dissing it. It was such a strange phenomenon bc I did a rival game (we will say red v. Blue at blues home). I had a bunch of issues. Like 3 send offs 4 yellows etc. a lot of dissent. The reverse fixture I was assigned as an assistant this time and with “OG” referee in the middle. The game was a walk in a park. Very little dissent from players or coaches. I think maybe 2 cautions 1 a piece. I asked myself why? And realize he had a “Kevin Stott” affect. Kevin Stott can walk on water or make calls or talk himself down on misconduct bc he has been in the league so long!!! The players know what to expect and deal with it. Whereas a younger new referee to the league doesn’t share the same rapport. Which was the same in my HS situation. The reason why I said this tangent is bc redjack probably (don’t know for sure I don’t live or work in Georgia) has a rapport with the leagues and HS’s there which allow for his style of officiating like SoCal mentioned. Whether that works for him or not we can’t judge. But like SoCal mentioned to those newer referees it may not be successful for them bc they don’t have that added rapport. Geometry? Maybe if it’s not 100% straight on with goal you can’t use the 1 yd hashmarks
I've had a few chances to explain Mr. Pythagoras at corner kicks when the defender is at a 45 degree angle from the two boundary lines. The attackers want him backed up to the hash mark, but that would be sqrt(242) yards from the flag.
And here's me wasting a good five minutes checking your math in my cobwebby old head ... But at least it diverted me from thinking about the old joke about the hippopotamus that I can't post here because it uses a word the electronic moat won't allow to pass. Just as well, it's a really stupid joke anyway. Speaking of which, I was in Kenya last week and saw any number of hippopotami au naturel.
Don't interact with the coach, but openly criticize a team's skill level when they complain about a call?
I agree with frankieboylampard. You are going to get tested if the coach and players don't know you already. I see far too many newer referees who think they can be super friendly with a coach when the coach has no idea who this person is. The coach's response to that kind of approach is usually to assume that the referee is clueless. And that's probably not the way you want the coach to think about you. So, instead, insert by the book responses, although the degree of that can be variable, and smile. Not a grin, just a smile that says, "Yeah, I know." You can get a lot farther with a gun and smile than you can with just a gun. I'm in the enviable position that I've been around so long that I refereed many of the coaches' games when they were playing in high school. They know that they can talk with me on a peer to peer basis, but trying to talk to me on a parent to child basis will not get the response they want. I try to talk to them in the same way. My interacting with the coach both before the game and during the game keeps their minds on their players and not on the referees. If somebody is starting to approach the line, I tend to go with 'big picture' statements and that frequently will get them to think about what they're doing. E.g. complaints about who gets to take a throw-in that are going beyond a single sentence may get a calm "Coach, it's just a throw-in in midfield." 90% of the time, I don't have to say anymore, although, if the ball gets turned over in a touch or two, I may add "....and you got it back." A lot of the players haven't seen me but they do notice how their coach interacts with me, so they know that this isn't a guy that you shout at. Of course, there will be a few guys who think they can intimidate me and they get to see the lemon one early on, so I don't have to go to the cherry one. And I have been known to deal with the guy who wants to initiate contact off the ball a couple of times by conversationally telling the coach something like, "Coach, six is doing stupid stuff out here. Do you want to sub him or shall I?" Trust me. Players see that the coach and the referee are on the same side. We can both take away your playing time, kid, so be cool. The smart ones understand that and appreciate the advice. The dumb, testosterone poisoned ones? There's no real hope for them anyway.
Walking out of my indoor facility after practice, pass a men’s league game. Older ref in an old style NISOA jersey, he gets closer to the fence, it’s Michael Kennedy!!! Couldn’t get a photo and I’m mad but that’s CRAZY!
Whoops, in all of my excitement I posted twice! @code1390 @MassachusettsRef @IASocFan please remove the second one.
Beautiful day for our first day of AYSO Regional playoffs, alas the fields are in awful shape, as we're playing on ones that double as a parking lot for college football games. Bad bounces galore, but kids having fun. One of my games is a G12--been a while since I've done one of those, and I'm surprised by how much I need to explain and cajole this late in the season. Yes, goal kicks have to be on the ground not a punt . . . And again realize that how slowly so many goal kicks get out of the PA at that level means they are used to waiting for the ball to come out--and only occasionally can't stand the wait and get in too soon. We end up in the penalty-kick-tear-breaker. And I'm again reminded that PKs are no sure thing at that level, as a team wins 1 kick to 0.
I once had a final at an adult amateur tournament for women O-30. The game had to have a winner. Naturally, we ended up tied so straight to kicks. I showed the first kicker where the ball went. She exclaimed "From here? This is too easy!" Of course, she missed wide. If memory serves, we went to seven rounds and it was 3-2.
I got three wrong. In all three cases I think they way they worded the correct answer or the question, the test answer was actually wrong. Either that or they way they are instructing the rules in the classroom is wrong.
I passed my second State 6 upgrade assessment as a center ref on Sunday. So all I have to do is wait for the assessments to get into US Soccer correctly (one assessor sent it to the wrong address and now is in Egypt) and update and submit my game count to complete the upgrade. My actual best story doesn't really involve soccer. I started a new job on Monday that has me located closer to good HS (or as good as it can be) soccer, although working for a school district might get in the way.
That seems a bit of an over-reaction for sending an assessment to the wrong address, but I guess the USSF is getting feisty about mistakes... Seriously though, congrats on both the job and your assignments. Ever onward!
I gave out a RC in the 26th minute of a DA U15 boys game. Through ball in the center of the field, keeper comes out but the attacker gets there first and shoots. Keeper does what a keeper does and reaches down to block the shot, except he is a foot outside of the PA. Whistle hard after my brain catches up with what my eyes just saw and red card the keeper. I'm setting up for the FK and players are telling me that I have to check with my AR[2]. I look over at him and glance down while pointing at my feet and he gives me a thumbs up. I look over to see the status of the substitute for the GK, and two coaches are on the field yelling at me (thanks AR1). I go over there, walk them back to the side line and get them to calm down by saying that I'll actually talk with AR2 while thinking, "If I got this wrong he wouldn't have let me pull a red or set up outside the PA." I also, had to say at least 15 times that it was direct, either because one of the attackers wanted to short touch the free kick or because every defending player wanted it to be indirect.
S don’t understand why you’d keep saying it. Onc puve said it, all they are doing is arguing, why repeat yourself? And I don’t understand what you mean about the attacking team—there is nothing they can do on an Fk that they can’t do on a DFK. What am I missing?
The attacking team was debating amongst themselves if they were going to go for goal directly or play a short pass.
Yeah, I agree with Socal. If they ask me I will say "direct" or "indirect" once. With younger players I will reinforce the IFK call while noting my arm up in the air when they ask. But, U15DA? Once, and only if they ask.