I hope this year finds us out on the fields a little more, and that the pandemic is a thing of the past. Hopefully this is true by April when the soccer seasons start in earnest in IOWA. Stay safe and Happy Reffing!
Same ... normally I’m gearing up for my typical winter schedule of adult indoor a few weeknights and weekends full of futsal or scrimmages. Looks like it will be a very slow January - February for me
I have the opportunity to work 8 games this weekend (40 minutes per game) at the Iowa girls state indoor club championships. I’ll be in a mask and using an electronic whistle, but I’ll be out there and kids will be playing.
May he Rest in Peace.. a little bit more on the passing of the long-time SRA for Eastern PA from COVID: http://www.epsarc.org/2020/12/loss-of-an-icon/
2020 sucked. Iowa lost its beloved former SRA late spring to pancreatic cancer. He mentored a lot of referees in our state, me included. His favorite saying during an assessment was “why didn’t you just card his a**?” Yes, I heard that one a couple of times as well.
I’m contemplating doing high school this spring. I shied away from it for two reasons. Five years ago our association was doing duals on middle school and JV games on full size fields. Now we have enough for three person crews. The other is the rule differences. But it seems the differences aren’t as vast as they used to be.
It's really not that bad. (Although I admit it would be annoying if I were working USSF games during HS season.) And I don't know about how things are where you live, but here HS pays better.
First weekend of 2021 in the books. Took me five games (40 minutes, so let's call it my third game if we were talking about normal games) to caution a coach and seven games to get to a persistent infringement caution. Things are off to a great start!
A little better, but Alabama USSF had a recent increase. USSF Division I: U17-U18 $75/$50 U15-U16 $65/$45 U13-U14 $60/$40 Division II: U17-U19 $65/$45 U15-U16 $60/$40 U13-U14 $50/$35 U11-U12 $45/$30 HS Varsity $75/$65 JV $65/$55 Jr High $60/$50 The disparity in Georgia is greater. Interestingly, there is no difference in CR and AR pay in varsity. JV is only two refs according to the GHSA website.
Well, that club money is a lot better than ours: U17-U19 $50/$40 U15-U16 $40/$30 U13-U14 $35/$25 U11-U12 $30/$20 All of these numbers are going up by $5 in the fall. That'll be the first raise in about 10 years. HS Varsity 65/45/45 or 60/60 (dual) JV 50/40/40 or 50/50 (dual) And for HS you always get a travel fee to each location: at least $10 extra per person if it's a 3-man crew, or $15 for a dual.
Go for it! Around here, MS/JV/HS games can be anywhere from fast & skilled (and could sometimes use a 4th-O) down to sloppy snooze-fests which could probably be done solo... Hopefully, your HS assignor is good about matching referee abilities to anticipated competition levels. Running a dual with a decent partner that at least tries to move where and when they should generally isn't too bad if the game isn't overly fast/skilled... or, at least, you sorta get used to doing them and living with the results. We're way short on refs, so it's often unavoidable. We have very few Club competitions locally, so most USSF youth matches are only Rec. So, HS pay seems considerably better; but no mileage for either. HS Duals split the standard total DSC crew fee, so it's mostly duals for outlying schools' low-level games to help make it worth traveling an hour away. Not too many NFHS vs IFAB differences during play remain vs. what we've had in recent years... still have countdown clock + stops/starts & signals, proper throw-in's that don't enter, leading team subs in last 5' stops clock, HC question + sportsmanship mention to captains at coin toss, and a couple of others. You'll remember the important ones simply because you care about getting it right... just tell your crewmate(s) during pregame to holler or throw a ball at you if you're about to restart incorrectly . When doing both fall HS and USSF games in the same week or even on the same day, I've had to stop and contemplate a restart or two as there were more rules differences in the past... a simple,"Sorry. I was thinking High School Rules [or FIFA Laws] from earlier today... we need to be restarting with [X]. <Tweet>" and off we'd go. Yeah, I can slip and do a habitual "wind-clock" at kickoff during HS season but on a USSF match.... meh, sue me.
I always like when I learn something from a previous mistake. When I worked a U10 game last fall, I blew the whistle too soon on a handling in the area and stopped play just before a goal was scored. In a U11 indoor game yesterday, I waited on a handling at midfield to see the attackers get a breakaway and scored as I called an advantage. That made up for having to eject a parent and have another confront me to the point where I nearly had to slide past him as he claimed his team was robbed while completely butchering Law 12.
First games since November 8th were yesterday- two of the Girls Academy games, U14 and U17. Even with quite a bit of prep, I am feeling it today, but I’m extremely glad to be back!
Test passed. Registration complete. Jerseys ordered. I am now ready to dive into the NFHS pool. Likely middle school and JV games until I lose 100 pounds and ten years. Let's do this.
yay for you! VO2 max the same; told our assignor no college games until March (once my vaccine has fully kicked in). Think it’s going to be about one year exactly. And along those lines, I may need to add “all my gear” to the wishlist thread, because I can’t find (or can’t remember) where my bag is...
The best story of my week is that I got assigned a D1 men's game. My first "regular season" match in the middle. The also not so good story is that I found out they're requiring us to use either electronic whistles or whistles with a mask. However, I need Bigsoccer's help because I need to find a mask with a whistle holder? (didn't even realize these things exist) or find an electronic whistle. This match will be interesting to say the least.
Several options on this page. https://www.ump-attire.com/COVID-19-Umpire-Referee-Gear-Apparel/?page=1&perpage=36&cat=0&orderby=price desc&brand=&search= Congratulations and good luck!
I second this. The only issue with the electronic whistle is hitting the button inadvertently. Sometimes, it's humorous when you are recording a score and hit it. Sometimes, you stop play.