Same here on the tundra of Minnesota. We do our training in Feb-Apr, as the season begins in April (weather permitting). We tried on-field simulations and scrimmages with real teams several years ago, but the logistics were a nightmare and Mother Nature rarely cooperated.
We've been doing on field work for the entry level class for something like eight years. I think it has made new grade 8's better prepared and more confident for their first game, but I can't prove it. USSF has, in the past, fallen in love with instructional paradigms and tried to use them to make instructors. Thirty years ago, Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP) was all the rage. It was stupid. Our SDI and I agreed that we would not teach ITIP to our instructors and we came up with our own format, with the help of a non-soccer woman who was a trainer in the business world. We always snickered about the time that the ITIP course was being taught here to some instructors. One "advanced" instructor came in to teach the ITIP topic of "closure." Boring! And he started rambling until, after about half an hour, he said, "I guess I really can't get to closure." All you need is someone who thoroughly knows the topic and is comfortable talking in front of a group. If they can't check both of those boxes, no class on instructional theory is going to make them someone that people want to hear.
I haven't followed these rumors, but I know at one point it was mostly talking about renaming them to be less confusing. Like right now, if you're not a state referee, can you do games outside of your state? Why are there two "state referee" grades? Nomenclature is a hard thing in general, but at the end of the day, if they do stuff like "Youth Referee", "Adult Referee", "Amateur Referee", "Professional Referee", etc, that would make sense (as long as they don't print "Amateur Referee" on badges hehe)
Congratulations! I was hoping they would come up with a different name for those. So when someone on here states "I'm getting tired of coaches..." they better explain what group of folks they are talking about.
AYSO badges and certification classes used to be Regional-Area-Section-National. Likely because no one understood what that meant, they changed the classes to Basic-Intermediate-Advanced-National. . . . Fortunately they kept the name of the first badge as Regional . . .
I always felt like the groupings land masses in AYSO was backwards. I thought Region should be the big thing and Section should be in your town.
If they're aligning with the FIFA philosophy, it should just be "Instructor". England now calls the two roles Observers and Tutors, similar to what Sweden went to a few years back.
I was once told by one from Sweden that the title of what we call assessors over there is "match instructor." I thought that fit very well and it has driven my philosophy of assessing.
Had an upgrade class on Saturday. I still have to do the fitness test and assessment before I become a Grade 7. The class was very interesting with a lot of video clips. The guest speaker was Paul Rejer!
Just got a 100 on the HS recert exam for what just might be the first time in my career. Either my reading comprehension has improved, or the editing of the exam questions has. Or, hmm ... maybe it's my dry January? (TGIAF)
No kidding... I wondered if that was a real possibility... I missed the very first question on the Part II exam last Fall. D'oh! "If visible arm sleeves and/or leg sleeves are worn:" Oh, wait... Is the 2018-19 NFHS Part II exam still being taken anywhere? I don't want a Big Soccer yellow card for discussing the answer options they had listed...
In Kentucky, we take the Part 2 test every year to hep determine post-season eligibility. You must score 80% or higher to work post-season.
In Georgia we have until midnight tonight. But it's for post-season eligibility only, like Kentucky. Don't need no stinkin' rules in the regular season.
Texas likes to fancy itself its own nation state. They have their own test that pulls 50 questions from a list of something like 200. About 10 of them are guaranteed as they deal with rule changes.
And at least five are about socks! (Actually I think this year didn't have quite as many about uniform issues as the past, but that might have been the luck of the draw for me.)
Sounds like the Georgia test I just took. I think I thought the sock question was a dissent question, which is probably why I got it right.
No offense to you but I am glad they’re redefining the grades. At the time 5 years ago we had like 14 something nationals in our ranks and we dropped at least 8 referees. I think the thinning of the crowd was good. Although, we had 1 appointed to the fifa panel. Most people retired and moved out of the way for up and coming referee’s.
Asked my instructor/assignor if we're the fashion police for HS games, especially when traveling to the boondocks... "You can't do playoffs until year three... If there's an actual problem or safety issue, get it corrected. Otherwise, decide if you want to be 'that ref'..." Got it. A few nearby counties without sanctioned youth rec/club struggle to field HS teams. My one non-earrings enforcement among them last season? "Coach, her uniform shorts do need to be worn over her sweatpants..." Of course, half my daughter's HS team wears different colored headbands with a tied knot and 6" tails in the back... More than once I've told them and coaches that someone's going to pop them on it... Yep, coach YC'd twice in regular season, in conference tourney finals, and again during state playoffs... He still wants to debate the merits of it (?!?). The "funny" one: her teammate was also hiding 3+ studs in each ear under her headband head adornment... busted, another YC. She knew better. Coach was taken aback and parents were grumbling... From my perch I let it slip, "They were all warned."
AND the coach told the referee before the game that all of the players were legally and properly equipped! Rule 4.3 plus 5.2.2.d.4 Around here, the first day of high school soccer tryouts, you know which freshmen aren't going to make any of the teams. The ones who are wearing their shin guards on top of their socks. Even our tiny schools don't seem to have problems with improperly equipped players. I'm talking schools with 15 on the soccer team and only 33 students in the whole school.
Preach it, Sir! Plus, the girls know they're illegal -- they have something else as backup for whenever they get popped. But he says nothing to them... Soooo, the girls keep wearing the fashionable ones and he gets occasional YC's. Most teams do abide by the equipment rules and correct issues without whining. Usually get a "thanks" for mentioning any issues we happen to notice pregame.
Rare Southern California game on turf field canceled for rain—so heavy the field wasn’t draining. One Mom was aghast that anyone would even think about playing in heavy rain. (I was glad I finally got those long sleeved shirts...). Rain lighteneded, field drained a bit, and played the next. Field still very wet—mushy while running. 13u. One team figured out how to play in the conditions first (those slow ground passes just ain’t getting there...) and took the lead. The other team finally figured it out and won handily. And I got to use my space pen and waterproof notebook.
Before we got our local fields redone, there was one that had such poor drainage that in one particular heavy storm, it felt much like trying to run on a water bed! We probably should have called that one for safety, but it was early in all our ref careers, and we went with the field marshal. The new fields drained great yesterday! R