Just got certified to do HS games in my area. I'm glad to do it and quite frankly, honored to be a part of it all. I think it's awesome, refereeing future superstars. However: Holy hell, are the NFHS soccer rules dumb, or what? I'm sure there's a good reason for a lot of them, but a LOT of them just feel like added nonsense and not critical to keeping the game flowing along. Will take some getting used to. QUESTION: What is the one thing you HS refs wish you had known before match #1 that nobody tells you?
How the heck to run a dual ... BTW, lots of threads and discussion here on NFHS topics — have fun searching them out and enjoying them — and one of our members (@Law5) is a former member of the rules committee. Oh and they're not quite as dumb as they seem at first blush, and they're getting better.
I'll see your dual, and raise you a double-dual, Cliff Keene stripes, and the old hand signals! @Spencedawgmillionaire welcome to the brotherhood
Hmm, so many. Throw-ins go to the other team if never thrown into the field of play; absolutely need to collect rosters (check to make sure all the players have numbers and coaches are listed) and ask if all the players properly equipped to play; coaches can be yellow carded; if a team has possession and you stop play IFK; yellow cards EVERY player has to leave the field of play (gk included); no stoppage time; if your area has one you may have a scorers table with someone who is the official timer; subs become a legal player when they check into the scorers table (if you have one) and beckoned on by the referee; if someone on the field of play is improperly equipped or has jewelry the coach receives the first yellow card, after that the players receive them; taunting is a red card (absolute be as proactive as possible); (In my state) if you or anyone on the referee team witness a player suffer from a "head injury" that player is done for the rest of the day and CANNOT be cleared by a trainer they MUST SEE A SPECIALIST, and teams know maybe 50% of these slight differences in IFAB v. NFHS if you are lucky. Also depending on your area you may have a weird mix of players. Most varsity games have club players but you may find players that play unaffiliated leagues (Sunday league with dad etc) so you get a very weird mix of skills. Also, some HS matches you will find a difference in age and experience. Meaning you can have a really tall freshmen 6'5" (not use to heavy contact) against a 5'6" senior that plays Sunday adult league and knows the lost art of the dirty tricks. This creates new problems as most clubs are separated by age and normally players that are 15 aren't playing against 18/19 year olds. All in all best of luck out there. And make sure to be careful. Something about HS soccer brings out the idiots and people who don't have that club soccer background. Also I would learn the HS rivalries and know the HS layouts such as where the best parking is for officials to avoid parents post-game, teams etc. also I would ask most home teams where there administrators are at if they'll be on site (some schools have them roam). Your administrator is like your field Marshall and they'll kick out unruly parents and/or monitor them, help with medical or unusual situations. Most of the times they don't have a soccer background, they can be AD's, assistant AD's, VP's, or simply a teacher.
I'm in the same boat. It'll be my first season doing high school games. To add onto frankieboy's post, DOGSO has not changed in NFHS. It's still a red in the penalty area even if it was an attempt to play the ball.
One thing that I would offer you about HS in my experience versus USSF or any other leagues you do, high school always has someone watching. For example, the high school AD is almost always there, and they generally have good relationships with your assignor. Also, most high schools record all of the matches. We've had some officials be in the press box during halftime and shit talking coaches and what not, and go figure, the camera kept rolling during halftime and the whole chat was picked up and turned into the assignor. High school also takes a lot of their rules a lot more serious than a rec league or club game. A good example of this is that when you do a U19 club game and players swear out of frustration to themselves or something like that and you try to "manage" it and not card a player? The high school AD's and NFHS 'enforcers' 100% you to card it 100% of the time, and they are very up front about it. My advice is that when you do HS, just be absolutely professional 100% of the time from the second you arrive at the field until you get off the premises. You should always do this obviously, just be much more mindful with high school.
And your partner in the dual might be a boys lacrosse referee who dabbles in 15-20 soccer games (not matches!) a year. You, on the other hand, are doing that many times 10. If you get a good partner and a good matchup, the dual isn't horrendous. Just bad. I have found that going from the DSC to the dual screws up your angles.
Take the time to really read and understand the differences in the rules. There are a number of power points out there that go into more detail/comparison.
I think this varies a lot depending on where you are and whether you are doing varsity or sub-varsity. When my daughter played JV in a league with small schools, I was amazed at how well behaved everyone was. I don't think I ever saw a ref even need to talk to a coach, let alone get to a caution of a coach. I think about 1/2 of the games were solo and 1/2 dual.
NFHS did a rule comparison between NCAA, NFHS, and FIFA last May. It is probably one of the most up to date documents. https://www.nfhs.org/media/1018270/2017_soccer_guide_-interscholastic_revised.pdf
I agree with this. I only made this point because you will work HS matches where kids will show up who have seen maybe 3 soccer matches ever in their life. They will be a in a group of friends watching so-and-so's gf/bf and spewing all types of unnecessary stuff onto the field that ultimately you have to deal with. But certainly. I recently moved areas and was amazed at how well coaches followed the pregame procedures, and had their subs managed extremely well!
Get deep into the opposite half on an attack going away from you - the ability to see the back side of the penalty area is TERRIBLE in a dual and you will be very thankful if your fellow referee does the same for you. Don't be afraid to blow your whistle for fouls in the attacking third even though it's not your "side". I can't tell you how many times I've had to look through five or six players to try and see if there was a foul way over there.... I hate duals.
All good stuff. One other thing to tuck away in the back of your mind – on the varsity games at least, the odds approach 100% that you are getting recorded on video. (We have one coach who's wearing a body cam.)
Congrats. I'll answer your question but please don't tell anyone else. I wish I knew how much fun they are. I would have been doing them sooner. Seriously though. You know the rules but most coaches, players and spectators don't so be patient in your explanation. Law 18 is still applicable to NFHS. Have a blast.
As you may have picked up from the above posts, NFHS rules used to be even more different than IFAB than they are now. I fixed some of the worst ones when I was on the committee but there are still differences. Some of the differences are really just things that, in USSF, are in the rules of competition (e.g. numbers on shirts, nets on goals, etc.) Some things you have to deal with are not NFHS but your state high school association's policies, procedures or rules, or state laws. At least in my area, there's a lot more running around (JV game at one site and then a varsity game between two completely different schools at another site across town) and more last minute changes/cancellations/added games than you see in any USSF affiliated league/tournament. Just roll with the punches and enjoy the season and the experience. High school players, especially boys, are hilarious at times. They just don't know that they're funny. That's why we post about them on the things we hear. It's like the priest said at the funeral of one of my relatives. "John always appreciated the church and the church always appreciated John..... Because he gave us so much material." (A film about him is being released in May, I believe, "Don't Worry. He Won't Get Far On Foot." John was a quadriplegic cartoonist.)
At least around here varsity games are a completely different animal than JV and below, even though in theory they are played under the same rules. Varsity all is by the book and results matter and fans care. Lower levels are much more foregiving. Ive done 9th grade games solo that felt like mid level U14 without the nutjob parents.
A good perspective to consider - most likely, you are used to teams where all the players are roughly the same age and typically similar skill level. NFHS is the ultimate mixed bag. You will get players of a wide range of ages and levels. Not all understand the game. You have to learn how to adapt to that kind of play.
I do high school in Texas (Winter) and Iowa (Spring). I think the differences are pretty minor - just like adjusting to substitution and timing rules in various leagues and tournaments. The levels are very similar. The big suburban schools are like good club teams - good ball control and some excellent soccer. The JV teams are also good players with deep benches. The smaller schools either don't have a JV or struggle with 10-13 low rec level players. The rule difference seem pretty minor to me - required substitution for Yellow card, coaches can receive yellow cards, throw-ins don't have to enter the field to be bad, IFK for injury stoppage with a team in control of the ball. I have lived with those for 15-20 years.
On top of all of this, make sure you know if your state has any adaptations to the NFHS rules. WI has a few on top of the NFHS set - Mercy rule (10 goal difference any time in second half games is over, eight goals in second half coaches can mutually agree to end) We play 45 min halves for varsity only with no OT in the regular season, but sub-varsity are all 40 min halves. A varsity game cannot begin without three referees- schools and crew got in trouble for this a few years ago even though it was non-conference.
If they told us Varsity games had to have 3 refs they would be cancelling 1/2 of the games. We just don’t have enough refs to cover all the games at full strength. The weaker/lower teams are getting duals. We try very hard to get 3 man crews on VB but in the end we do what we can where we can. As for the differences they aren’t that big a deal and they make sense in context. The throw in rule for example. You are on a clock. If you didn’t turn it over immediately a team that was up would just waste time by throwing in “out” 4 or 5 times in a row. The IFK for an injury in this level is good. These are HS kids, not pros. Safety of the players is a big deal here and it affords the referee a way to deal with injuries and not penalize a team in possession. Carding a coach I actually like. It’s a visible sign to all to correct behavior, just like the players.
One "trick" I did back when refereeing and doing high school games, dual system. Rather than trying to stay with the next to last defender (as an AR), I tried to stay with the forward most forward when the ball was in my half. It tended to keep me nearer the action, and frequently involved less running. It allowed me to move into the other half of the field quicker for action at that end. Watch out for the attacking winger that tends to get behind you - between you and the touchline. If they play quite wide and you try to stay outside of them you're frequently too far away from the action.
Where I live all the JV games are duals and all the Varsity games are 3-man. Unfortunately most of the high school refs are getting older and slower