I know we are all geared up about the WC, but I have a young ref I assigned to do her first center this weekend. She wrote to me saying "I'm excited to ref my first center, do you have any tips for first time center referees that would help me do a better job?" I sent the following back to her and then decided I should make this into a list I should give to all my new refs each season. I am sure there are more items to consider, but also don't want to throw the whole book at them. I left out stuff like game mgt and crowd control. These are low level rec games and they are not going to be able to do that in game 1 anyway. Any basic items you think I should add? Things to consider if you are a soccer referee about to do your first center in a youth game Start off simple and easy. Stuff you already do, like be early and dress professionally. Meet with coaches, do player check in, check the field, captains, etc.. Give everyone the impression you know what you are doing and do it. Once the game starts: · Work hard - run the diagonal - get close to play - sweat! If people see you working hard, they like you better than if you look lazy. · Call stuff. So many new refs hesitate because they are not sure. If you see something and maybe not sure it's a foul, call it anyway. Get in the habit of being in control. · When you call a foul, blow whistle loud enough for everyone to hear, then point in direction that ball needs to go so teams know if they are on offense or defense. · If it's a bad foul, blow whistle REALLY loud. Like you are mad that they did what they did. Give cards if you need to (probably not needed in little kid Rec games) · Use your AR's - if you are not sure about something, ask them, especially ball direction. But if they don't know, then make a decision quickly (right or wrong) · If you realize you made a mistake, and play has not restarted, you can change your mind. Just say, "my mistake, red ball, not blue" or whatever · Talk to players - tell them what they did wrong and/or coach them if needed. · Control the subs - look for subs at every stoppage. If there are subs, blow whistle, put hand up and beckon them on. Keep hand up until ready to start play again. Blow whistle to restart play. · If something occurs that is NOT a foul (in your opinion) and coaches/fans are yelling about it, wave your hands in "safe" motion and say No Foul or just NO. This tells people you saw the thing they are yelling about and decided not to call it. · Be assertive - Take charge - Act like you know exactly what you are doing, even if you don't. · A ball that hits a hand is not handling, unless it is deliberate. Look for deliberate movement of hand to the ball (even instinctive or accidental). If someone kicks a ball from real close and it hits hand/arm and player who was hit did not move, don't call it! · I repeat - blow Whistle LOUD enough for people to hear - this is a major complaint about new refs - soft whistles. I know this is a lot of stuff to consider. Consider it a challenge that if you can master it, will result in you making a LOT of money in the next few years. And try to have fun doing it. You are getting paid to exercise and tell people what to do. If that can be fun for you, then you might just become a great ref.
I'd make it shorter--sometimes less is more. Keep it to a few things that are simple and may be remembered--if you have to repeat something, the list is much too long. I'd put the biggest as "Act confident-- act like you know what you're doing, even when you don't." And giving the newbie at least one, and preferably two, competent ARs will do more than any list.
That's a big list for a first timer. I'd pare it down to take charge, call stuff, use your ars. I'd add only one thing - don't forget to start your watch .
I like repeating "blow whistle loud." My list says it three times! Hope your kiddo has a great time, DefRef.
I think that is a great list, not too long at all. First timer will be very appreciative. Only thing I disagree with is keeping hand up for subs the whole time. My arm hurts just thinking about it! (If AYSO youngers game, no subs during play, so this could be removed for them).
I was instructed to keep arm up for HS games and have found it very useful at all levels that do a lot of subbing. If my arm is up (as in a stop, not IDFK), we ain't playing. Far too often, the thrower/kicker is not paying attention to me, and I'm not paying attention to them as I am dealing with subs. Lets me keep control of game and we don't have any playing with too many players on the field.
The second game will be much easier. Try to get in the habit of looking at the AR when the ball is played through the defensive line. Try and get the habit of looking for subs at every stoppage in play. When starting each half, blow your whistle super loud. This will get you into the habit of blowing it hard and get rid of some nerves.
My thought on controlling the restart on subs is to make sure the person doing the restart knows to wait for your signal. If they aren't paying attention to you, it doesn't matter if you have a hand up or not. In small sided games (where I start new refs) that's relatively easy. The harder part is getting coaches to wait for your signal to start subbing. If you whistle every restart after a substitution, even high school players tend to catch on.
A lot of these points can be condensed into one principle: "If you look and act like a ref, the players/coaches/fans will be more inclined to believe that you are a ref who knows her stuff." An don't let anyone know it's your first game until it's done!
I enjoy working with the young referees on their first centers. Generally they already know the game as a player. Now we are beginning to introduce the perspective of the Referee. 1. Are you nervous? "YES". Good. Not a surprise you are a little nervous -- it shows you care. 2. Don't worry about making mistakes. We've all made mistakes -- we've learned some of our most important lessons as a result of mistakes. We just don't want to repeat any BIG mistakes. Your ARs are here to help make sure WE don't make any big mistakes. 3. The on-field thing I ask them to pay attention to is to start developing a feel for positioning. Through the years it's been described various ways (Left Diagonal, Lazy S, 45-10, etc.) but experiment a bit to figure out where you need to be to see what you need to see. Then trust that you know the game and call what you see. 4. Half Time -- Notice something they've done well. Give them something to look for/work on in the second half. 5. Post-Game -- as above. and... Did you enjoy it? (hopefully) "YES". Do more!!
First game: 1) Know all the pregame administrative stuff and do it. How do you fill out the game ticket? Do you check the players in? How? Do you keep their cards? Do you need a coach's signature on the score card post game? Who supplies the ball? What size do you use? How do you do the coin flip? Practice it. Walk on the field as a group with ARs. You can have all this down before you go out there. 2) Blow the whistle for the kick-off loudly. 3) Call some fouls. (If it looks like a foul, it is a foul. Blow whistle. People will be happy.) Second game: Do everything above.
While this is good advice earlyish, I disagree with it as something to discuss before a first game. It was presumably taught in training. But IMHO, the first-timers thoughts should be going to recognition of what is going on--I don't want him worrying about where he's standing in his first game. To the extent he is thinking of himself, I'd like him thinking of blowing the whistle and holding signals long enough to be seen. After doing the first game is when talking about the diagonal and how that positioning would have helped. There are a lot of good suggestions here for newish referees. But we need to be careful about one-size-fits-all for first games. There is a big difference among first-time referees. Some have been regular ARs for a while. Some played seriously. Some are confident adults. Some are nervous youths. And there are very different first games. Solo? Experienced or new ARs? Level of play? Just like our pregames, our advice to newbies should be tailored to the newbie ref and the game being refereed. But IMHO, we have to be careful about how much we tell them. Are you saying it to say it or so that it will be useful? No one is going to process and actively use more than 2 or 3 things that they are told before the game.
Hope it went well. I would love to hear how she did on her first game. My late advice would be very simple. Smile, move, and call what you see and most important have fun. I would hope she had some seasoned ARs to help her out to make it even easier.
This particular ref is actually the 5th kid in her family to become a ref. So she has that going for her. But, like all of her siblings, she is NOT a type A personality, so being large and in charge is not her. I was able to watch about half of this game - arrived about the end of 1st quarter. It was a low key 12U girls Rec match and I was able to talk to both coaches. Visiting coach said he was impressed with her pre-game process. Sure enough, meek timid whistles. And while she hustled, she needed to get closer to play. And she needed to learn to angle herself to better see her ARs. At the quarter break, I gave her 2-3 tips. I also told the ARs to get her attention, rather than put flag down. She did better in 2nd quarter, but still missed some offside calls, but ARs started calling out and they got it right. I gave her a pep talk at half time and she said she was having fun and then I had to run to my game. Glad to see that she had a good first game and expect her to cover Rec games without problem next fall. Time will tell if she moves up to the harder Comp matches sooner rather than later.
Sounds like she is off to a great start. Nice that you were able to see a bit of the game. I am not sure what whistle she was using but normally the free one that comes in the kit is not that good. We used to make a big deal about a youth doing their first center and would give them a colored FOX 40. For some reason they can blow that whistle louder and then we just work on varying the tone.
That is a great point. I did notice that she had the cheapo pea whistle. And I love the idea of giving new refs a good whistle. I will go to my board and tell them I want to do this. And they will, because they are terrified I will quit someday (as assignor).