Well, I'd rather you had imposter syndrome than be one of 'those' referees, who think they walk on water and the players had better just kiss their whistle. So you're starting in a solid place. I think the way to handle that insecurity about how you really did, is to ask yourself after the game what you could have done better. With more and more experience, you begin to recognize the turning points in the game, not in terms of who scored etc. but in terms of player (and coach) attitude and behavior. What set them off? Could they have been justified? (And that "could" is underscored, so its only a possibility) Did you need to call something differently or is it a question of communicating what you saw and/or why that's the correct answer. (E.g. in the second case, using a sentence that starts with "by rule,....") Or what did you do that calmed things down, whether that was one particular decision that sent a message or a series of things that made it clear we weren't doing that today? One of the most satisfying moments early in my career was the first time that I felt the game was slipping away from me, which had happened numerous times before, but this time I actually got it back under control and the players stopped complaining. Yes!!!!
Welcome to the club! Over time you'll have a better understanding of what a truly good performance feels like. But that good feeling at the end of the match can be quickly wiped out if you see video evidence that contradicts your impression of a critical match event. Those are the toughest ones to swallow IMHO because you go from elation to disappointment. This does, in fact, happen. This season, I dropped points in assessments for a "missed KMI" that other assessors/coaches (at a similar level) disagree with. They thought I nailed the call. You never really get used to those sorts of comments, but the more games you get assessed will help because the law of large numbers will start to apply. For example, this season, I gave a yellow for SPA when it was a very close DOGSO decision. I justified the call during the debrief after the game and the referee coach agreed with my rationale. Looking on video later, the call was more DOGSO than SPA at the time of the foul (the issue was the attacker's ability to maintain control of a heavy touch before a rushing goalkeeper). While you arguably lose some points unjustly, there are times where you arguably unfairly get the benefit of the doubt and keep points. Things tend to shake out. Law 5, as usual, provides sage advice. Being honest with yourself and trying to draw specific areas of improvement out of each and every game you do is the quickest way to develop more experience and self-confidence as a referee (e.g., even if the game was 'easy' for foul selection, how was your positioning on static restarts? How did you handle substitutions and injury management?).
AlextheRef writes: This does, in fact, happen. This season, I dropped points in assessments for a "missed KMI" that other assessors/coaches (at a similar level) disagree with. They thought I nailed the call. You never really get used to those sorts of comments, but the more games you get assessed will help because the law of large numbers will start to apply. The first time I became an assessor (long, internal political story not worth repeating), there were about 20 of us in the class. The 'test' was for us to assess a PDL game and complete a report. I think we had to be within five points of the instructor. So we're out at this high school where the game was being played. There were two or three instructors, 20 of us and a handful of spectators. The PA announcer actually intoned, "Never have so few been assessed by so many." Later in the game, a frustrated home spectator yelled at the referees, "We'll see you in the parking lot after the game!" I can see the headline now. "Referees beat up crowd."
I have some non-club U10 duals Saturday. I think I will break out my new comms to test them and get used to them.
The assignor for a tournament I did said he would not have internet access from 8a to 8p, and we should call if anything came up. Lots of fun to read through the assignments over the phone to try to explain how the field marshals had a different scheduled than we did.
One of an assignors favorite phrases to hear from a tournament coordinator: “Oh, did we forget to send you the last update?”
Or the ever popular “So because of rain the city just closed our grass fields and here’s the new tournament schedule. Please reassign these 100 games going from 10 fields down to 4. The tournament starts tomorrow.”
At a tournament this weekend. I was in my corner kick position (opposite side of AR so I was up at the corner of the box). Ball comes out and is going to head back upfield for the defense. As I am running past the arc, I jump spin because I thought the cleared ball was going to hit me, and as I'm turning, I see the clearing defender get shoulder charged by an attacker so I blow my whistle mid-air and point direction before landing. Round of applause from the spectators and was the talk of the tournament for the rest of the day from my crew and the other refs who saw it.
Why would a referee not blow their whistle during a jump-spin if it was possible? Being able to post the story here is worth whatever whining the parents of the defense had about their obvious goal-scoring opportunity being gone now.
I was able to see while in the air that the shoulder charge caused the attempted clearance to go off the side of his foot way sideways, plus it was in his defensive third anyway.
I'm in New Jersey to attend my big brother's 94th b'day. He showed me his game book notes. From the early 60's to the teens he officiated baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball and basketball.....10,378 events. He didn't have stats from before. From the $2 fees from early baseball and softball games until he hung up his boots he earned over $120,000. Whooppee!!
I just got an email from a club president, asking me to be their paid assignor. If I get the gig, it will be my 7th club. I'm slowly filling in the map of northeastern CT. I know a lot of refs think assigning is too much, but I enjoy it (usually). And I intend to keep doing it after I can't ref anymore (just did game 121 for 2021, so still going strong at 60 - games 122 and 123 tonight).
So I had a obscure test question happen in a game recently. No, the ball did not deflate when hitting the cross bar on a PK. Summer HS girls game and we are in a dual ref system. I am on the parents side and red team back is dribbling the ball up the sideline at speed with me running between her and the line. She pushes the ball hard about 15 feet in front of her and a dog (her dog) comes booking out of the crowd, chasing the ball. Girl peels off from the ball to start chasing the dog, while most of us nearby start laughing. I finally blow the whistle to officially stop play as she corrals the dog and takes him back over to her parents. So what is the restart?...cue jeopardy music....I called it as a drop ball with possession given back to red. Girl on white says, but it was her dog that caused the problem......
Without looking up the answer (cuz I'm lazy) dropped ball for red is correct because they touched the ball last before you stopped play for outside interference. That said I should probably review the HS rules before the season starts here next week.
The high schools have agreed to rejiggle their schedules for Varsity and JV so that we have something like the same number of games per day. Then they can lay on the JV2 games and the state high school association has agreed to allow any USSF referee to do the JV2 games, even though they are not certified for high school.
Even though I've done mostly low level HS/JV/MS games for the last 5 years or so, here in OH I would have to take a 10 HR Bridge class to ref HS games. I passed.