I will say that both of these are some pretty sobering numbers: Here are some scary numbers from our local high school referee board: 64% are over the age of 50 46% are over the age of 60 13% are over the age of 70 8% of our members are not returning next season and only one of them is over 70. The others are all under age 50. another buddy writes: I run the arbiter site for high school soccer in __ 7000 games 665 referees just did some analysis how many of these 665 referees are age 25 and under? only 16
Your numbers don't surprise me. I did a demographic profile of our state's USSF referees. 60% are under the age of 19. The single factor most associated with referees not returning was graduation from high school, not parents/coaches yelling at them. As a result, the median experience for all referees is something like 1.7 years. Big numbers of 17 and 18 year olds becomes a couple dozen 20-somethings, for a whole lot of non-soccer reasons. Worse, IMHO, the 20-somethings that are still around have the experience/game count to progress but many/most of them don't have the people management skills to progress, i.e. deal well with adults as coaches or players. Quite a few of them also seem to have nothing else going on in their lives other than refereeing. If I was an assignor, that would be great. If I was a mentor/parent/spouse/boss, that wouldn't be so great. People either start or return to refereeing once they're about 35. I guess the conclusion is that we make a mistake if we assume that the referee age cohort (e.g. all referees who are now 20 to 25 years old) has to start out large because it will smoothly taper down over time, as the referees age. Yes, you can't come in at 40 and expect to do MLS games eventually but very, very, very few referees will ever do MLS, regardless of their current age. Can, say, a 55 year old still successfully do a high school varsity boys game? Yes.
I try pretty routinely to get outgoing HS kids to take the NFHS test. I have yet to put a notch in my whistle with that cohort. My success has been with guys who have evolved to the point where they have more time available, i.e. kids grown so theyr'e not coaching anymore. More the 55+ cohort than the 20-25ers. Guys under 30 in my chapter are few and seemingly getting fewer.
started with the NFHS at age 21 in 1984, since I'm exactly age 55 I will agree that I can have successful matches. I am definitely 2 steps slower now as compared to age 35. Sadly my brain only thinks that I'm one step slower but my body never seems to agree...lol
The O-30's think they can still do it like they always have. The O-40's can play like they used to for approximately 17 minutes. Then they have to make up for their age by whining and whacking late. The O-50's start off asking if we have to play 45 minute halves. The O-58's find a spot on the field where they can stand and demand that their teammates pass them the ball.
This is the easy part - to provide advice, suggestions, guidance. The how is the tricky part. Right? Well, once one has come close to death, and stayed alive, everything that follows thereon is all bonus. Not a recommended pathway for most, I figure. Well, scrap that then. I have now found that letting go of me, as in the I, allows me to look at things as if from outside, like a 5- or 10-metre view, hovering from above sortof. The underlying aspect is to know the role that one is playing, be that as a referee, or assignor, or whatevah. As a practising referee, not keen in the admin or assigning-stuff as being in the thick of action is still a deeply pleasurable and memorable experience, I keep refreshing the bigger picture scene every time I take the field. Sometimes, this is difficult, but never impossible. The other day I had a B12 kid, who reacted with classic dissent demo, first with one hand and then the other, for I had called an unfair and meaty challenge on him in the second half and was issued a yellow card. Was I affected by the rudeness? No I was not. Why? I immediately resorted to the baseline schema - why I am there for? Manage the game, manage the player. Could I do that -- without loosing me cool? Yes I could. So I did. Did I know what I was doing, compared to, s/he did not know what s/he is doing> Youbetcha!! To summarise, follow the baseline plan. Why I am there for? Is this objective clear, abso-bloody-lutely clear in my head. If yes, then follow that path. At the end of the day, nothing matters - the earth will still spin, the sun will still rise, ...
I will try to find it. I have a lot of spreadsheets, soccer and otherwise, and sometimes I have a hard time finding stuff that was given an opaque name.
Oh, I know its title has something to do with soccer but the titles don't necessarily tell me enough about the contents to be useful, so I think of that as opaque, while I would think of obscure as meaning that the title relates to something different than what's in the file.
This was the closest I could find to a parents-behaving-badly thread to post this NYT article and short video on the topic: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/sports/referee-parents-abuse-videos.html
This may sound crazy, but this past year (fall and spring seasons) I have seen a lessening of the sideline nuttiness. I have been assigned a lot to the biggest club in the area, and they have a STRICT policy about coaches and referees as well as parents and referees. Also, I have limited myself to 2/3 tournaments/showcases where I used to do 10 a year. For some reason, tournaments seem to bring out the absolute worst in both coaches and parents (and TBH, in referees, too). Long, hot days, expectations of success ride high, and when teams lose 4 matches over two days without scoring a goal, parents see there $2,000-3,0000 investment going up in smoke. I do not engage the parents side anymore. Player dissent, I cut off immediately. Coaches may get a little leeway, if they are respectful.
I'm friends with Brian from my time in Oklahoma. He's been all over morning news shows today. My favorite might be this one... https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/youreoffside/posts/1960427450914947
Ummm I don't think that article knows what an acronym is.... From the article: Barlow's STOP (Stop Tormenting Referees Permanently) program is also being featured nationally. It provides thought out, easy ways for referees to handle unruly spectators.