1) Since early March, there have only been 4 full weekends where it didn't rain in any part of the weekend in New Jersey. and we're almost in mid-May. Being "older", it's no longer fun doing such a game in cold weather. I imagine many others feel the same way in my demographic. 2) Did an EDP match where one of the players though they were Derrick Henry of the Titans and initiating contact with the shoulder and bowling over players even though they have the ball. The defenders only harm was to "contain" the player. Easy calls, but not for that coach. It you toss them, they know nothing will happen. I've given more cautions or ejections to coaches so far this year than I have my previous 10 years of officiating combined. I'm hearing similar stories from other referees. Not having as much fun officiating as in the past with the worsening civility among coaches/trainers and fans. Modern era, it's a badge of honor to be ignorant or a jerk. Diffusing situations with humor, communication, etc is not working as in the past. I can't imagine this is helping retain officials.
Seen a couple references here to entry level classes but I'll straight up note that, in DC-Virginia, it's been harder to get people into those classes even if we want them. There was, of course, a large pause, but even now that we're back, we are limited to 9 students per class (plus an instructor), whereas we might have as many as 20 in past years. More classes = more need for available instructors (many of whom, like me, are still active referees) and now that games are being played, less time to schedule the field sessions. I taught a couple weekends ago where we were one of four classes on a single field on at the same time (we spread out around the field as best we could. I'll say that the final product is likely going to suffer a bit too. Not that I fully expect any new referee to come out of a class with everything he or she needs but one of the larger parts of the "old" field session was to simply throw the students into a scrimmage while we'd shadow them. We can't do that now so they don't have any from of "game experience" whatsoever. (also, we as instructors have to come up with more material!)
We're doing all classes on Zoom. In addition to letting us have *more* students in a class, it solves the geographic problem - it's about a 10 hour drive from Monroe (Southeast corner of Michigan) to Bessemer (western Upper Peninsula). I can now have a class with students from different areas of the state, and an instructor from anywhere, as opposed to trying to find a date and location that works for a much smaller group that is from the same area.
It's been pointed out in numerous threads, but you don't have to go through NISOA to become a college soccer referee.
Downside is you can't see the kid in the back falling asleep. I've seen Dale or Carlos or someone else escort out those who clearly were not paying any attention to recert classes.
In DCV, the new students to the modules and then do field work. That's pretty similar to what we were doing in the before times with the big differences being: 1. There was a short classroom session (2 hrs) where we could cover some of what we now must do during field sessions (things like uniforms, finding an assignor, eventually advancing as a referee). 2. Smaller in person classes. 3. No ability to really "play" referee in a game like situation. I understand where you're coming from in terms of your classes in Michigan but I can't see putting someone out there without some field work. Even just the real connection to an instructor helps, as I've had a couple students reach out to me as they've started the season with questions.
The funny thing is most of March and April was fairly nice by upstate NY standards. I remember doing a lot of HS matches in short sleeves. The past few weeks have been MISERABLE. I used to live in the NYC metro area growing up before moving to the great north, but I swear, the 'April showers' is BS. It seems to be rainy and cold (and always cloudy) here in May until one day, around Memorial Day and I am flipping my home from heat to AC in the same week. Its gotten to the point I am looking for merino wool compression short sleeve t-shirts for a base layer under my uniform. I'd add with all the clouds, those 6:30 KO's are hard pressed to finish in daylight.
We started doing "field" work in 2019. Ok in a gym or an indoor facility, since the bulk of new/recerts are November-March, when it's kind of hard to get outside in the Great White North. Prior to that, a ref's first field work was his/her first game. Usually a U9 solo. There's a new push to spend our mentoring cycles on refs in their first 1-3 years. We'll see if that helps.
That makes sense. Give a referee support in his* most difficult years (usually the first few years, when he has to face knucklehead fans and coaches who barely know the rules), and he will learn to survive, and then thrive. This might help solve the attrition problem. Note: I chose to use the male pronoun to apply to both males and females, both for grammatical and for space-saving reasons.
And Zoom classes would allow the SDI to remotely monitor the classroom performance of instructors. I remember a USSF national meeting where some eager beaver SDIs proposed that the SDI should be required to do a drop in assessment of each instructor annually. That idea died when the then Alaska SDI said that he had instructors who, quite literally, live more than 1,000 miles from him. "I can't just drop in on them.'
I saw that for the first time yesterday. It took me 1/2 a second to figure out why this kid had a flower.
Wait, you guys have classes? As far as I can tell, our new refs in CT are getting some online modules, an open book test and then they are certified. I have newly certified refs contacting me for games and then when I assign them, ask me where they get uniforms. I have started spending the first few weeks of each season going to my newbie games because I know they are clueless. I am only an assignor (and a ref), but I know that if someone does not mentor these kids, they won't have a clue and they will quit. No pay, but definitely in my own self interest to hopefully develop decent refs who stick around. More recently, the state mentor group has started making themselves available to show up at my games and that is something. The one thing that drives me crazy is that most of the new refs do not know what 2nd to last defender means. How can you get through years as a player and pass the ref test without knowing that?!? I will discuss it with them pre-game, mention it after game starts, and then flat out ask them where the 2nd to last is. And they just don't know....... And then the throw-ins........thrower jumps in the air like a Bolshoi ballerina and no one notices
Ah yes-- you can see it in their eyes when they've decided they're never coming back. It's like a switch and they have checked out. Even if they are having a hard time, I always tell the young noobs they did a great job, helped me out so much, you made a difference, etc. All noobs get a good *ss kissing from me-- I want them to come back! I will pick maybe one thing to give feedback on right after and then head home. Maybe I'm a push-over. Sometimes they look like they might need a hug, but I haven't gone that far yet.
I try to encourage any other referees that I work with, especially the new ones. We need as many as we can get.
I become certified in the late 2000s in the summer between middle and high school. The training was maybe 2-3 two hour classes, take the test. No on field training at all. And to this date I've never gotten any sort of real mentoring at all, in fact my first game ever was a U10 competitive center where I lost track of time. Luckily I am not an emotional person so I have never even been close to breaking down in tears or quitting, but I saw most kids I knew back then quit really quickly. Only lasting effect that no mentorship did for me was destroy any chance I had to have a decent ref career because I never really had the confidence to pick up high level games and was afraid to do centers until 2017-2018.
Wow. I'm trying to figure this thing out for myself as well. Hopefully you get the help that you need to advance.
In Iowa, the state referee committee is adding a new position called the State Director of Mentoring (SDM). The SDM's focus will be working with member clubs to 1) get more players and parents to be certified as referees and 2) develop mentoring programs for new referees so they have immediate feedback, confidence, and support to continue refereeing. I'd absolutely love to be the first person in this role. It's an area that I'm very passionate about and have a personal stake in. However, with our move this summer, it's just not the right time for me to do that. Maybe in another year. I do hope this movement gains traction.
We have a State Director of Mentoring, or State Director of Referee Development. It is the combining of the old State Director of Instruction and the State Director of Assessing roles, since we no longer have Instructors or Assessors, just Mentors. And the old District Directors of Instruction and District Directors of Assessing have similarly morphed in District Directors of Referee Development.
So I just dropped this little nugget on my travel brain-trust regarding this coming Sunday: *************** Guys, In addition to outside refs I already know, I have contacted 9 surrounding assignors looking for refs. In most cases they were about to ask for help themselves. I'm still fighting like hell but right now I still have: No center ref for four of the five U10 games at Jefferson (now have one at 3pm). No center ref for the noon U15 game at the HS. Adult who was to do noon U15 has become injured. Actively searching for replacement and for U10 refs. All of our capable centers are either on the schedule or not available--no stone unturned, internally. It's not uncommon to pick up holes in the schedule, or to still have those holes Friday or even Saturday. What's different this week, and this year, is the overwhelming sense that very simply there aren't enough refs. I'll keep you updated. [Pittsburgh Ref] *************** This may be the week I finally have to be the one to cancel games, instead of having refs show up to find one or no teams. Blood from a stone, fellas, blood from a stone. Does not help matters that I cannot get an updated roster of my (re-)certified referees, I may have thumb-twiddlers I don't even know about.