New to College Refereeing

Congrats!

1. I always stop my primary watch so that I have an accurate time on my watch. Its not uncommon to have the clock operator mess up so its good to have the accurate time on your watch.

2. Subs, restarts, misconduct, and overtime are some examples. The NCAA rule book has a really good comparison chart every year. A good trick that I learned from a NISOA national a few years ago is to review that chart with the crew before every game to make sure that we don't misapply any rules.

3. I usually go to my local colleges turf football field and use the hash marks on the field. You can also use the flat cones on the track. You can also calculate the total distance and amount of time that you have and then make sure that you can regularly run that distance in that amount of time.

4. That's a tough question to answer because of the sheer range of game play in college soccer. A D1 power conference game is going to be day and night different then a women's D3 game. As you do more games, you will get the sense of how to call the different games.

 

1. I stop my watch. At the lower levels (D3 & JUCO) your clock people screw up consistently. The issue I face is restarting it.

2. What the other guy said. There are a bunch of great charts out there, and ask the other refs in your chapter or Google for one. One of them will likely be more than happy to share a copy.

3. I do suicides, but the test is the old Grade 6 test, not the new Regional one. Unless something has changed. I also use a football field and run from the goal line to the 15 and walk to the back of the endzone 10 times.

4. Lord does it vary. I've seen D3 women's games where your local U16 girl's teams could crush them. Men's D3 is glorified Sunday league. D2 was better and the players were faster, but Jesus every game was almost fight. The majority of the games, in my experience, were just smash and chase. Not a lot of technical play or control. That might be different at the D1 level, but based on the few games I've seen on TV, not really.

 

1. In college soccer, the clock can count either up or down. However, most teams have the clock count down. I always try to have my watch match what the stadium clock is doing so if it counts up, my watch clocks up. If it counts down, my watch counts down. This way if there is a malfunction with the stadium clock, it can always be corrected. I also record misconducts, goals etc. based on the stadium clock. I do the math later if I need to.

2. When I first started doing college, one of our local senior officials told me, a foul is a foul; a goal is a goal. Those are the same. It is the administrative stuff that can be different. However, I find the biggest difference to be subs especially since it is limited by re-entry rules. Remember that subs can enter the field once they are beckoned in; they don’t have to wait for the players who is leaving to come off. Also at the end of the game, you have to stop the clock if the leading team is subbing in the last five minutes so you have to keep an eye on it.

3. I keep fit the same way I do for high level USSF games.

4. Just like funref13 says, this can vary greatly depending on the division that you are doing. It can also vary greatly within the division itself. A strong national power even in junior college is going to be completely different from even a perpetual losing program in D III.

 

The NISOA fitness test is easy.

6x40m sprints in 9 sec each
10 laps of 150m/50m intervals, 45 seconds for each interval

No offense, but if you can't pass this, then you shouldn't be doing college games in the first place.

 

If you can run two 8:00 minute miles, you're way more qualified than necessary.

If you're not sure, go out with a watch and do your run in 45 seconds, take your 45 second rest, repeat. After 2 laps you will probably be bored to tears.

 

The toughest part of the interval test is just not burning out early.

On a high school track, walk straight out from the goalposts to the middle of the curves and place cones there. Then put a cone at the finish line and a cone at the 200 meter start. You now have your 150-50 markers.

Now just run a repeating timer for 45 seconds and get used to the rhythm. Since it’s a pass-fail test, aim to coast into the finish line with a second or two to spare. On the walks, aim to start your run a step or two behind the cone so you are accelerating when the 45 seconds begins.

 

Here's one of the charts that highlights the differences between the rules/laws of NCAA, NFHS, and IFAB.

https://www.nfhs.org/media/1018270/2019-comparative-study-of-rules-and-laws.pdf

But, don't take every detail in it as gospel... for example, it says under NFHS that when referee fails to give an IFK signal and it goes into the goal it's the same as under IFAB - retake IFK. That's incorrect under NFHS.

Just use the list as a pointer to the actual rules/laws so you can read & compare them for yourself. I sometimes quick-review it when bouncing between NFHS and USSF Youth to help me remember.

 

I run a smartwatch (Ticwatch E) with the Android Wear app "Soccer Referee Pro" which does what you're looking for and can be configured to count however you'd like. The attached image shows one configuration of the app with that bottom right clock which accumulates added time while the other two are stopped. It also does goal/card recording very quickly if you're into that and has plenty of configuration options including GPS tracking. RefSix is another good option, but you'd end up paying monthly to get the same features. I recommend using a backup watch in addition, but you probably won't find what you want in anything except a smartwatch setup (for a reasonable price anyway).

 

The one thing I like about the Spintso (there are many things I dislike about it, too) is that the running time counting up is THE time. So, that if a goal is scored in the 28th minute it is the 28th minute even though you have had a 5 minute injury in the 13th.

 

I wouldn't even sweat the watch thing. You have a scorer person. Ive worked with several college officials that are like "as long as the clock is close to what I have I don't make a big deal about it."

As far as games go I will say this D1 is usually the best soccer on the men's side depending on conference. The women's is VERY hit and miss. I have done women's Junior College games that are better than some of the D1 low-profile universities. So D1 matters a lot on conferences. D2 tends to get more local talent (think JC students, transfer students etc) in my neck of the woods D2 is significantly better than D3 and NAIA. D3 is close to non-existent almost everyone plays junior college. NAIA is also not very competitive here. However, I believe you mentioned you are based out of Chicago (midwest). I know NAIA in the midwest/plains area is a lot better. This may also be where you get tested on your first couple of games. I often find NAIA games are challenging with the amount of foreign talent that comes into these teams. Often derelict talented players from South America (Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, etc) and troubled players from across Europe. Mix in the suburban (usually religious) private NAIA school players and it makes for an interesting playing field.
JC college is a whole different monster. This is some of the best high school players, mixed with foreign students trying to get residency and players with lots of club (sometimes DA) and then you get sunday league style players. Much like NAIA I have learned a lot at this level. You learn about dealing with players that are close to your age and sometimes the games can be like sunday amateur league games. Either way JC is usually a solid mix pending on locale of course. I happen to be in an area with a very strong JC system so I have seen players go straight after 1 year to 4 year colleges. Ymmv.

Best of luck in your college officiating my best advice is be hungry and also be willing to put in your work. NISOA chapters by chapters are run way differently. It may still be an old boy's system or it may be a bit more progressive. Expect to see some old timers doing stuff a certain way and getting way with stuff that is no longer current with USSF's teaching.

 

Late to the party, but I still use two watches on college games, just like USSF and NFHS. One counts up and one counts down. In college, though, just like NFHS, the stadium clock is official.

Tracking subs: technically, the official scorekeeper is responsible to see that players do not re-enter illegally. In my experience, that may or may not actually happen. At least around here, AR1 records the number of exiting players, just to be sure. It is very rare, but I have had it happen that a NAIA level coach didn't know the rule and tried to have a player re-enter. Tried emphatically. Tried unsuccessfully but I only caught it because I recognized the player. AR1 was no help because he wasn't tracking the numbers. And, in fairness, it can be difficult to see the number of exiting players and many announcers do not announce the number of the exiting player. Get your center to help you.

Not a question you asked, but.... In college, the coaches call the shots, particularly the home coach. (Cf. in high school, we have to satisfy the athletic directors, in youth club it's the league.) So don't be polite and professional with the coaches. Remember, you can get a whole lot farther with a gun and a smile than you can with just a gun.

My other, unsolicited, comment is that you have to understand that just starting college games means that you are the low man on the college totem pole. You need to do the games in remote locations at inconvenient times. Do the assignor favors and they will remember it. Well, most of them will.

 

finally, I man who speaks the truth!!!

 

Irish diplomacy: The art of telling someone to go to hell and make them look forward to the trip. "Coach, think of all the traffic in the parking lot you'll be able to beat if you get to leave early!"

And some people think I never speak with tongue in cheek.

 

How could I forget this tidbit. Good catch. I am fortunate that in our area the JC, and NAIA coaches don't have that sway. As well as the D2.. although, they will scratch officials every now and then.
At the D1 level we don't have that issue most of the time unless you really F*** up. But we have match observers for the big conferences so..... yeah less coaches doing the reporting. Coaches do have some serious sway though if you are talented or if they like you.

Its open book 50 questions I believe. I only take the NISOA test to do playoffs our chapter doesn't require us to take it. Wait until you register and see what your chapter requires. The questions are kinda wordy and a bit tricky but with open book its more a matter of how much time you want to put into it.

 

This reminds of a low level college coach who disliked me as a assistant referee and complained to the assignor demanding that I never return. Upon him complaining, my assignments changed to include several more games at that school as the AR on the coaches side because in the assignor's words "I assign the referees, not coaches". After a few games and a couple of yellow cards for dissent, the coach finally learned his lesson and mercifully the assignor stopped sending me there.

 

The crew has comms for many of my games. I find that, as AR1, the most helpful thing is for AR2 to call out the numbers coming off, since they players backs are almost always toward AR2 as they exit. WMMV.

I did some school from Pittsburgh last fall, Grove City? Late in the second half, I told the coach "No more subs, I'm out of room on the paper I'm using to record subs." He laughed and said he was out of players, so all was good.

 

This caused me to remember a D1 men's game some years ago. I was 4th official, preseason game between two strong teams. The visiting coach is very friendly before the game, shaking our hands, "So good to see you. It's a beautiful day. Should be a wonderful game...…" Yahda, yahda, yahda. This school has the benches up against a white cement wall that is about five feet high, with a railing on top of the wall and seating that starts behind a walkway next to the railing.

The game starts and I'm beginning my visual surveillance. The visiting coach and his assistant are sitting very nicely on the bench. The head coach has a clip board with a dry erase outline of a field on the back. He has a green felt tip pen that he's going to use to write whatever comments he wants to record. But he can't get the cap off of the pen. He ends up holding the pen horizontally with the cap closest to him. Suddenly, the cap comes off, spraying green ink. He has green spots covering his face and the wall behind him. The assistant coach is dying! He knows that he can't laugh at his boss but it is still too funny. I choose to check the action on the field.

In the second half, the home team is up, 1-0, and a number of clearances by the home team somehow happen to end up kicking the ball out of the stadium. There are no ball holders. The visiting coach is starting to get pretty vocal about how long it's taking to get a new ball in play when this happens. Finally, the home coach has had enough. This is a guy who is one of the most gentlemanly coaches I've ever met. If you, as the referee, really screwed the pooch, he would stand up. He wouldn't say anything. He would just stand up. And he was always right that, yes, you did just make a big mistake. So, in the face of the visiting coach's complaints, he stands up and turns to the equipment manager at the very end of the bench. "I want six balls." The equipment manager opens the bag and begins tossing them to the coach. The home coach then lobs the six balls over my head to the visiting coach. I was happy that the assignor who also assessed these games wasn't there that day. I had no idea what he would think I should do in this situation, if anything. I certainly wasn't going to go check the inflation of those balls!

The next day, the home school passed the word that the visiting school would never be invited back. And the next year, the green dots were still on the wall.

 

^^^
You tell some very entertaining and illuminating war stories, Law5.

Great thread, GearRef.

 

Wow it's impressive that you are doing college games already. Aren't you younger than I am?