To be fair about the numbers, I have not recertified yet. I started the process, I saw that the first question was "WHat is US Soccer's motto" and I got angry and left.
So very dependent on level and what the competition is. For our AYSO region, our most intense mentoring has been in "grad series" which is an off-season program for U8 players who will be "graduating" to 10U real(ish) soccer. No standings, just intro to the 10U game. Typically the overwhelming majority of the volunteer refs are brand new to reffing, and we try to get a mentor to as many games as possible. For the most insecure, the mentor will sometimes even go out on the field with the R to be a security blanket. We'll walk with the ARs and talk about what they are watching for. And since AYSO subs on quarters, the mentor will typically go out to the R for a moment while the teams sort out their subs. (Which is always slow with kids not used to subs and coaches not used to doing them....) Without that super-casual environment, mentoring is obviously less intrusive. Just someone being there to answer questions before the game, at half time, and after the game can be very helpful to newbies. I've walked multiple 10U fields the first week or two of the season. I've often got no questions, "oh, we've got this!" before the game, and circled back at half time to get a bunch of questions--newbies often don't know what they don't know. The last thing I'd add on mentoring is easy does it! You need to find things they are doing well to recognize--it can't be just advice to do things different. And limit the things to work on. We can watch a newbie and easily have a dozen things we'd like to see different. But three is a good number. People can remember and think about three things. They can't process a dozen.
Signed up to do my first tournament at the end of March / early April. Asked to primarily just do AR, if possible, with centers for U7/8/9 games only if needed. I'm working with a couple local rec leagues as well this spring, hoping to get more experience with the whistle in those types of games before doing any higher level games. Any advise for tournaments? I've been to a million of them as a parent, but not as a ref.
Limit the number of games you do each day. Make your limits clear to the assignor. Be aware that the U11 and U12 finals at the end of the day on Sunday are the most important games ever, at least to some present.
Thanks. Do you have a normal number of games you limit yourself to? Looks like these are mostly 35 minute halves (30 mins. for U11/U12).
I am old and slow and suffering the consequences of over-commitment in the past, so I try not to do more than three in a day, league or tournament. But that’s just me.
THIS. About half the spectators I had to throw out over the years were u11/u12 tournament finals. Apparently there's a law that you can't get a scholarship without a youth size "Champions" T-shirt.
Too many times, I've seen tournament assignors put a young newbie referee, solo, on the U-10 and 11 games. As I walk by, I see that the parents and player siblings are all there, with cowbells, and the referee's expression is "What have I gotten myself into here?"
This. U13 lowest level division this weekend, oof. The parents screamed (not at me, at their kids) the ENTIRE time. Contradictory, confusing, coaching, nonsense, you name it. It's like they each knew 1-2 soccer phrases and would belt them out at random times. Maybe I was that bad when my kid was that age. I sure hope not.
I did a game on Saturday in a park with 6-8 fields running in which I was the only field with an AR. You know how it is at the last time slot, a couple of people have evening obligations (especially 2 days before Valentine's Day), 1 person had called in sick, and another No Call No Showed. The reason I had the AR is because it was the higher league in the state. I was also able to talk the site coordinator into holding a flag on the other line because, even though I know he can't run, I know he can call a better offside from out of position than I can looking a split second late and he can definitely get in-out from wherever he ended up. Additionally, it was the assigned AR's 7th game, ever. She did a fine job even handling the sun coming out setting in her eyes late in the second half and managing the trick flag that I gave her. The end knob came off the B+D flag and she almost tripped over the flag coming off the stick.
Exactly It's been this way for decades. Also for the stock referee insults and criticism. It doesn't matter what is happening on the pitch. They do it to show off to the other parents that they know something about the game, and so that they feel they are actual participants, not just passive spectators. PH
One of the few small-sided games I did was late last year a U11 Girls EDP match as part of a 3 game set. I was amazed at the skill level of the players who I believe would have beaten many boys club teams. The fans on one of the teams were out of their minds and behaved more like recreation level parents. Constant griping about every call from kickoff to the the final whistle. A ball is sailing 10 yards over the crossbar on a free kick and two fans are yelling "Offside!". When it was brought to the attention of one of the ringleaders that the referee was a former FIFA and former MLS Referee, the person's response was "I don't care!".
First solo 9v9 game of the year. This tournament had ARs on 7v7 U9-U10 games! I thought I'd try a different tactic. Before the game, I told the parents I ordered loaded potato skins last night, but they gave me fried mashed potato balls instead. "I briefly considered talking to the waitstaff about their mistake the same way spectators talk to me about my mistake.But I decided against it." They said they'd be nice, and they were! Very well coached teams who barely needed me. When the ball went out, they handled throw-ins, goal kicks and corner kicks themselves. And I let them. One YC for a player kicking the ball out of the keeper's hands, and he apologized. Why can't all my games be like that?
So many times I've watched a young kid on the ball freeze, as the coach yelled "pass to Johnny," Dad yelled "shoot!!" and Mom yelled "dribble!" As a coach I really tried to shut it down, but very hard to do.
“Switch the field” is my favorite. And, at certain levels (most levels, actually!), switching the field with a perfect 60 yard against the grain pass is at the least a three pass chain of events.
Apparently, the new phrase of choice the past year or so (according to my son, who hears it all the time now from other teams) is "Put it in the mixer". I had no clue what it meant - he had to explain that one to me.
My new favorite - when the parents want to tell their kid they're offside but believe if they say the word "offside" they make the AR aware. So they come up with a code word. "Suzie, watch the pizza!" or some other nonsense. I've heard this more than once, took me a while to figure out what the hell they were talking about.
One of the benefits of doing MLS Next for youth games is that the players play so fast and well that before their parents even have a chance to spout off their stupid opinions, the ball has already pinballed between two players and has moved into the next phase of the field.
just you wait. I have said this for years, for every elite level team that wins, there is an elite level team that loses. The parents don’t like losing.
Yep....I always cringe when I hear that. And that'll be another Throw in 20 seconds or less. "Somebody Check In"