Yes it was. I also saw that the entire Eden Prairie tourney got cancelled as well. It's really a shame.
I think Portland set a record by cancelling a tournament for snow this year. Had about a foot of snow on the ground - it's rare to get more than an inch over a whole winter!
Me? A grouch? Why, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Which means this post belongs in that other thread...
I've done the Ohio Elite where the Sunday games were all cancelled due to snow/cold. February is just too early to try to sneak in a tournament, even in *southern* Ohio.
I forgot to put this in my best story. U17 Boys a slow roller goes to the keeper who palms it to stop the roll trying to kill a couple of seconds before an attacker gets there and he picks it up. I whistled for the second handling. Not like there is a 'normal' location for an IFK inside the attacking penalty area but I think wide of the goal area less than 10 yards from the goal post (red dot) would qualify. As I walk off 10 (not really because I know the field dimensions) I had to put the first two guys on the goal line then the third and fourth coming out (blue line). I kinda wish there had been someone important there because I felt like I nailed the execution of the call.
Our biggest cancellation culprit has been heat lately. I coach Jr High among others and one single parent whined about the heat last year and the school district changed our requirements. We normally go by H.S. rules, over a certain temp, water breaks are required and practices have to be adjusted. But they changed it to several degrees lower. It really, REALLY ticked everyone off. We lost about 1/3 of our season. I'd have a game cancelled and go to coach my club team and all the other kids who play on turf had played their matches with water breaks. It only takes one butthead to ruin it for everyone else. Hey parents, we're professionals, we're trained, we know what we're doing. Don't want your kid playing in the heat? Don't let them play outdoor sports.
It also only takes one kid dying from heat-related issues to make you think twice about playing in such conditions. You can't fault a parent for wanting to protect and care for their child. In the end, it's only a game.
Ok, so, here's my favorite story of the week. I've been saving it for Wednesday, because it's generally a slow day here... This has a long set-up because I tend to be long-winded anyway. Also, I'm pretty sure the read is worth it. Saturday, had 6 U-9-10-11 matches starting at 9AM. It was one of those perfect days where everything is just clicking. I feel great, well hydrated, I'm sharp, fast and on top of everything. Felt like I was putting on a clinic. Even shifting from the teeny kids who fall over each other to the older kids who are fast and furious, I was NAILING it (thanks, of course, to a lot of advice I've gotten here). Parents are yelling "thanks, ref, great job" etc...after matches. Coaches are saying "great job." I'm waiting for the bad thing to happen, because it's inevitably always does. I ref a team at 11 and then see them at 3:30 again, coach tells me they're from a town a couple of hours away and just drive up and do double headers every weekend for the competition. Pre-match, a dad from this team (Red) comes up to me and says "I just wanted to talk to you before the game and tell you that you're the best ref we've had in two years of playing up here. You called a really, really great game and let the players show their skills and didn't let anything get by you. We wanted to thank you for that." I was really flying high, so had a big boost of energy for the last match. Match was really well contested, very, very even. Blue team up 1-0 at half off of a really well-placed shot. Everything is still going really well. 2nd half starts and red is all over the blue team, blue only getting the occasional counter that is quickly dealt with. 4 minutes left and it happens; corner to red team. Ball comes in, kicked by red player toward goal and a blue player heads it about 7 yards from the goal. I blow for the IDFK and everyone on blue is upset. Parents yelling, coaches yelling that is was incidental (it wasn't in the least, anywhere else, it would have been a brilliant defensive header). I ignore the upset folks. I move the wall from the top of the goal area to the goal line and explain that they cannot move from that spot and why they're not closer. I say to the red team, "this is idfk, so that means..." Red team player says "oh, yeah, we got it." I blow my whistle and red 1 moves the ball and red 2 blasts a prefect shot on goal into the lower 90, like a couple of pros. I blow my whistle and point to the center and the blue asst coach is walking, very calmly onto the field "ref, I want to ask you why..." Me: "Coach, we're not talking until you're off of the field." I escort him from the field (I would have been far harsher had he been all insane, but he didn't appear to understand that he couldn't be there, hard to explain, but if you saw it, you'd understand. He was genuinely perplexed). Of course, the head coach is claiming that it wasn't deliberate and he's fuming, assistant is trying to understand why I gave an IDFK where I did. Head C refuses to allow me to talk so I ask him to be quiet and we'll talk post-match, he continues, I tell him "I've asked you, now I'm telling you....or dismissal." He shuts up. Game ends 1-1. Assistant coach approaches, very calmly, again, hard to put into words, but I can tell he's upset, but not angry. It's my last match and I'm willing to talk as long as he likes. I ask him if I can explain first, and he agrees. "IDFK in the PA is taken from the spot of the infringement, the closest anyone can be is 10 yards or goal line. I marked off ten, goal line was closer. Ball was kicked and moved, goal stands." He says "Ok, now, I'm not arguing with you directly here, but I want to read this to you and maybe you can explain why you still did that." He gets his phone out and has the LOTG up on his phone (I smile) and reads to me the section regarding IDFK in the GA and having to place on the ball on the top of the GA nearest to where the infringement occurred. AC: "So, that's not what you did." Me: You're right, that's not what I did. AC: So why did you do that? That shouldn't have been a goal. Me: Because the infringement didn't occur in the GA. AC: Yes, it did. Me: Walk with me.... I take him to the goal area and he says AC: (pointing at the spot of the foul) You put the ball there and let them kick it, that's wrong, you should have put it there (Points to the edge of the PA.) Me: Ok, this area is called the GA, this, much larger area is the PA. Had the infringement occurred in THIS, the GA, then it would be moved to this line. It did not, though, it occurred here, inside the PA, so in that case, the ball is placed inside the PA, where the infringement occurred. This continues on for a bit, him not understanding that the PA is not the GA and can't get why I wouldn't take away the advantage of the spot of the ball for the red team to help his team out even though they were the ones to committed the offense. AC: So, this isn't the GA? Me: No, it's the PA, that's the GA. AC: I've never heard of that, before. Me: Ok, well, here's what I suggest: First, since you have the LOTG open on your phone, I recommend looking up 'LAW 1', which explains the field, it's dimensions and the names of the parts of the field (he looks at me like I'm some kind of savant). If you're still not satisfied, I highly encourage you to email XXX my assignor or XXXX the person at SLYSA, either of whom will, I'm absolutely confident, handle your complaint to absolute satisfaction. (I say all of this with a big smile) AC: Ok, thanks, I think we'll do that. Hand shake, happy goodbyes. It was, by far, the weirdest conversation in tone and subject matter that I've had so far with a coach. You've been through two whole 10-match seasons (not counting any tourneys) and you are completely perplexed as to the parts of the field and how they work with headed balls that are illegal in this age group. Plus, the fact that the Head coach apparently knew he was too ticked off to have this conversation and left it alone. Thanks for reading my little novel here. I, apparently, have nothing else to do at work today and my season is finished, so wanted to go out with a bang. If you read this whole thing you get 18 internet points.
I fully understand the concern, but we already hedge on the side of caution with concern to temps, we had to change to ridiculous limits. The baseball team couldn't play, either. Not sure if it was a soccer or baseball parent, but rumor has it that it was a baseball parent. plus, making it worse was the fact that they wen't with the temp at around 2PM instead of closer to game time. Obviously to allow parents to adjust for pickup after school, but most days the temp had dropped by 4PM to a temp we were allowed to play in. It was really frustrating.
After weeks of watching truly horrible referees at my son's games, we had a teenage girl on Saturday that was truly fantastic. Perfect uniform, decisive, authoritative, and dealt quickly and efficiently with a few unruly parents (thankfully, not from out team). Not much of a story really, but it was really heartening to see a good young ref out there...doesn't happen very often.
The higher level question is what the level of risk is at any given temperature/humidity level. There is no absolute 'on/off' level. The risk is a bell curve distribution. Our family legend is about the time my father in law, who lived in Fresno CA, put on a wool sweater because it had dropped into the 90's. At that temperature, he was cold because the weather had been in the 100's for weeks. Everybody else was talking about how unbearably hot it was. So how much risk is acceptable? What if .001 percent of people would have a problem at that temperature? (That's one person in 100,000.) Too much risk you say? What if it were .0001 percent, a one in a million problem? If you want to say "any risk is unacceptable," then no one can play outdoor sports because someone, somewhere will be "at risk" from the weather. But the vast majority of people don't want to live like that. Better that those who have rare problems either do something else or are closely enough monitored that they don't expose themselves to more risk than they personally can handle. Does the kid who has an abnormal level of risk still want to be part of the group? Maybe so. I get that. My step-grandson is nine and a hemophiliac. He's played AYSO soccer with his school friends. This is a kid for whom getting a bruise of any kind is a major problem. Think "adequate" shin guards for most kids would not be adequate for him, for example, or just falling down because you're a clumsy nine year old. But it's not reasonable to say that nobody should be allowed to kick the ball because they might miss and kick Logan instead.
That was indeed a good one, but I was hoping you were going to say this same dad hated your second game and thought you were the worst ref he'd ever seen. I've been called the worst and the best in the same day (and even once or twice on the same game), but never both by the same person. And I'll take my 18 points and save them for later.
Funny you should say that... I had this exact thing happen to me, except for it was a coach and not a parent. Talked to the coaches before the game, and one remembered me from a few weeks back, and told me it was one of the best reffed games he'd seen, and was happy to have me. After a contentions game, I was sitting down getting some water, and the coach walked past me, looked down, said "forget all the good things I said", and walked away. The worst thing...he was right. I had a lousy game.
Story like this always puts a smile on my face. I hope that one of those days you and other parents will let this or another young referee know that her/his professionalism and hard work is much appreciated.
Not to be snide, but you got it worser than the pros did last week There is a "normal" location for offense that happen inside the goal area. From Law 13
Sorry, I meant that the restart isn't normal in the sense that trying to manage them tends to be a pain in the ass. At least from the top of the goal area, almost all of the wall will be on the goal line, not the 'L' shaped amalgam that I had to set up.