I don’t agree with that sentiment. I’ve seen plenty of young crews do just fine throughout the years. At many levels of the game, there’s no way around assigning a crew full of teenagers (if you can even get a 3-man crew at all). It’s more about the individual personnel than their age. I have known many teenage referees who I would trust with any situation more than a vast majority of the adults. Of course, if it’s three brand new referees, who don’t really know what they’re doing yet, and you’re throwing them into a pressure cooker environment, sure, that could be a problem. But the same could be said for a group of “I’ve been doing this a long time” adult referees who also don’t know what they’re doing. Again it depends more on the personnel themselves than on their age.
On the photos topic - the web app that (at least) MLS Next Academy used last season has incredibly small photos that can't be enlarged in any way, and checkin consists just of "look at this web page and say the names" - there is no manual check in/out mechanism and you just record the final scores/events, not the checkin process. Literally there was no way to see if the athlete in the photo matched the person you were calling. Seems like essentially giving up.
fair enough...but going back to the original issue as mentioned in their facebook post, if you have teenagers crying from the abuse that they are receiving then these are probably not the folks you are describing and they likely could have used the support of a Senior on their crew.
Given that this was around 15 years ago and I retired from reffing 12 years ago, that's unlikely to happen. I don't know if Ashley continued to ref after she graduated from HS.
Both AYSO and HS put teams and their spectators on opposite sides of the field. I’m a fan of this. Keeps opposing fans away from one another and makes it much easier to make the coach accountable for the fans. As far as touchline bans and parents, well, that’s the point. The group will care about that consequence and can create peer pressure. It shouldn’t be a common tool, but use it a couple of times and it can create pressure. It also is addressing a particular issue—refusal to identify the perp.
When my son played u11 his team was in the semifinals of the state tournament. The referee ejected the wife of the head coach of the opposing team. Too bad he did it himself instead of making the coach do it, that would have been entertaining.
Reminds me of a game in my first or second year reffing, was doing a dual u8 or u10 game with another youth ref. I was probably 13. At half time, a man I thought was one of the coaches comes out complaining about a non-call on handling—ball going straight at the players face and projected his face. I said something long the lines of it not being a foul when reflexively protecting. He starts yelling. I caution him with a yellow card—first time I ever used a card. (Yes, this league did that with coaches way back then.) he responded by raising his voice, stepping towards me, and yelling “I’m not letting any 13 year old kid tell me what to do!” I resisted saying “that’s Ok, I’m 12” as I showed him the red card. He became flustered, saying, you can’t make me leave, I’m the photographer. The actual coach comes over, looking at him coldly and told him to leave, and he stormed out. She had no complaints at all to me. I found out later that week that not only was he her husband, but she was the commissioner of the district the team had come from.. I think she was truly pissed that he embarrassed her like that. Must have been an interesting ride home.
In most cases, they will land the plane. However, the reality is that most of these U11 game issues are with a full crew of teens. Putting aside the fan harassment, it's a failure of assignors across the nation who can't add an adult in a 3-man crew who would/could act as a mentor for the younger generation.
For the first time I believe ever, I had to leave a game and assignments due to a mid-game injury. And of course it had to be MLS NEXT academy division, and of course with the 16s 17s and 19s. The games got moved onto the town’s turf fields that I hate because they have very little traction and players are always falling. Was happening today to players as well who were loudly pissed about it. And as AR in the first game I had a slight slip, which slightly turned my right ankle, and to stay upright I reflexively stuck my left leg extended into the ground which definitely strained my left hamstring. Hobbling and sidestepping the rest of the half. Made it through the second half pretty much only sidestepping and the first half of the second game doing the same and luckily someone picked up the games and took my second half and then center. I can’t believe this. All these years where if it’s youth I do 3-4 games in a day, even will bike to games if it’s local 10 miles each way there and back with people marveling my endurance. Last august doing 9 solo scrimmages in a weekend for this club’s Tier 2 teams at this same site in high 80s temps and by Sunday the coaches could not understand how I was not only still standing but refereeing well and being with play. And this happens. It was so embarrassing and a complete humiliation having to change crew at halftime like that.
@soccerref69420 No it isn't. A slight trip and attempting to stay upright is how my wife blew out her knee. Even on good surfaces, like professional pitches, referees get injured. Now, for my bad story, I present last night's supplemental. "At 79:59 the game was stopped due to inclement weather (lightning). All players and staff were evacuated to the locker rooms and waited for the all clear. At 12:06 AM, the all clear was given and both teams agreed to a 20 minute warmup prior to restarting. Once on the field, teams agreed to shorten the warm up period and the match restarted at 12:23 AM. No further incidents occurred."And my wife's thoughts. "Bro it's already 3-0 in the 68th [sic] minute. Fing call the game. Tacoma ain't coming back from this." "They are all playing like they just took a sedative anyway"
We had a guy's back go out during the first half of the first game of a three-game MLS Next set only a few weeks ago. He called the assignors and they had a replacement for the next two matches. We had a player in the next game leave due to a severe knee injury. This was all on a turf field that was redone three years ago. When players are slipping on turf fields as described above, I notice many of them are wearing regular cleats which are not meant for turf. I've seen threads here from well meaning folks offering suggestions on shoes to wear for multiple games, but it doesn't work for me. My Copa Mundial turf shoes, while not offering the comfort I would love, give me the ability to cut and turn that the other shoes don't and I know the other shoes don't give me the proper "grip" I need.
I was once assessing a U-16 boys' game at youth regionals. I was behind AR1 and she wasn't even close to second last defender for most of the first half. At half time, the referee's knee is swollen to the point that it looked like he had a baseball inside his skin over his knee cap. They decided that he would become 4th official, the 4th would become AR1 and AR1 would become the referee. The now 4th official can't even stand for most of the second half and was usually sitting on a bench at the halfway. The now referee did a fantastic job of managing the boys who were maybe four years younger than her, better than the first half referee. So, do I fail her for her first half performance or pass her with honors for the second half?
I don't think that's embarrassing. Referees are human and get hurt just like players. Your health is more important than the game. Several years ago, I had a double header on the hottest, sunniest day of the summer. For the first game, I was AR1 and the heat was getting to me. During the second game where I was the center, I realized that I could not continue or else I would collapse on the field. After I was replaced by AR1, both teams were offering me water and cooling packs.
Assistant Refereeing sucks. If you are new at it, it really sucks. I've explained to new(er) refs, as a CR, you have more freedom to move and think about where to be. ARing is very mechanical and pretty much determines your positioning if you are to do it correct in order to have done a 'good job.' Its easy for a new ref to be caught up in the play elsewhere and lose sight of offside. We all do when we are working solo or doing a school dual. Its a lot like goalkeeping where you need lots of reps to make the automatic stuff stick.
Endurance is only one component of the game. I did at 14-mile zone 2 ride before my U-19 match yesterday. Youth 'regular club' players, especially with a short bench and even unlimited subs will tire by the 70th minute. I'll outlast them every day. Now, the ballistic movement of a sprint? No way am I going step for step. Hard sprints get more iffy every year as you age through your 50's.
In this case, the AR/Ref was not a newbie. She had been selected by her state to represent them at the youth regional tournament, a much bigger thing at the time than it is now.
Having to get pulled off a game is definitely embarrassing. Once for a 6 game set at US Club Regionals, I made the mistake of hustling in my center in the 4th game and then not getting food before game 5 because I was busy with paperwork. By the 2nd half of game 5, I was dizzy and not running much. The coach had to contact the assignor to pull me off of game 6. I started crying and begged to stay in because I knew I had done the one unforgivable thing for a low level ref: created a problem for the assignor. I now don't get games from him above U14G lines. Ever since I have routinely reffed games while injured or sick. Just got off a 2 week stretch with a pulled calf while limping around away from the field.
I find ARing more mentally taxing as well. In my mind I am constantly trying to keep up with last touch and then obviously have to concentrate on being with 2LD and flag in correct hand for when moving and when still. I agree with you that as center you have more freedom to move where you can be in best position and you can also be talking with the players (or to/at the players if you had rather) to help you through your own calls. For me anyway, the worst AR situation is when you are in the younger age groups with not a good team and they just park their back line on the 18. You never end up moving and you are forever away from the other end of field when play is down there. You are absolutely no help to center if they need it on a side line out into touch call.
The only embarrassing thing I see in this story is the assignor giving six games in a day to one referee at a regional event.