Yeah, I forgot that I let the game get out of control. Once I was told it was my fault when the player got injured. I called the foul. I carded the perp - in a U12 or U14 rec game. What more do you want me to do? I guess I was supposed to read the future and stop the foul before it happened.
A few weeks ago, I worked the Iowa girls state indoor championships in my hometown (7v7 up to U14, 6v6 U15 and up on fields that are 55 x 30 with no boards). I ended up with a U14 semifinal between two rival teams that went to KTFM and then worked the U12 final. So technically it was my first state championship game as a center/solo referee. In three weeks, I'll work the Inter-Regional ODP event in Memphis, TN while my son plays on one of the Iowa ODP teams. So I get a double benefit of getting to work some upper-level matches out of state while also being able to watch my son play in an ODP event just a couple months after a four-month injury layoff because of arm surgery.
This was definitely more than just my best story of the week. My 11-year-old son made his officiating debut working with me in a 4v4 futsal tournament this weekend. We worked 7 24-minute games from U7 to U10. He has been asking me for over a year if he could take a shot at refereeing, and he was legitimately disappointed when USSF raised the minimum age from 12 to 13 (I do think it was the correct decision to make for USSF). Unsanctioned tournament and one that benefits a scholarship fund in the name of a high school player lost in an early 2000s car accident. They focus on sportsmanship to the point where if someone is reprimanded for sportsmanship that they sit in a very public "sportsmanship chair" for everyone to see. Brian Barlow at Offside would love that! So like any first-time official, my son was nervous and was happy we were working together as a 2-man crew. On the drive, he said "What if I make a mistake, Dad?" I just told him we all make mistakes - I have yet to referee a perfect game (although the two college showcase games I did this weekend were ones where I walked off the field feeling really good about my work!). He made sure he was in proper uniform - official tournament referee t-shirt, black warmup pants, and predominantly black running shoes (we also had gray shirts in case a team wore black and had kids close to his size). He handed the sportsmanship pins to the coaches that each team gave to one member of the other team for good sportsmanship. The first game, he was pretty hesitant with his signals and would often look to me first before making a call. As the weekend went on, I could see his confidence and assertiveness growing. He started directing me in my positioning, as we had watched some futsal matches on YouTube to see how the top-level futsal referees positioned themselves. In one of our final games, he made the decisive call on a ball played by the defense in the restricted area in front of the goal - a call that led to the winning goal being awarded in a 2-1 game, and it wasn't a blatantly obvious call. Good solid blast of his whistle as he came to the lane with a goal signal. I could not have been more proud. Since he has a good understanding of the game and the rules, I think he can be pretty successful if he wants to keep working on it. About 15 minutes after that play, my older son texted me about Kobe Bryant and his daughter losing their lives in the Calabasas helicopter crash. I thought about how Gianna and Kobe Bryant were heading to something that was bonding them, just as my son and I were doing something that he's wanted to do and I could mentor him. That hit me pretty hard yesterday (the father-daughter interaction and a 13-year-old losing her life going to do something she obviously loved to do much more than just Kobe Bryant leaving us too early).
So, you know I have a story. At the Beijing Olympics, my daughter was at the women's soccer final and said that she was sitting next to "this American guy, tall, black guy, I think he plays basketball. Beef something?" Her sister exclaims, "You sat next to Kobe Bryant?????" "Yeah, I think that was the name. Is he supposed to be good? We just talked about soccer." He was a big fan of the US Women's National team.
I bet if you would have asked him, that probably would have been one of his favorite conversations he had at those Olympics. I'd bet money that he thought it was great that someone wasn't star-struck over him and wanted to talk about anything other than the Lakers or NBA basketball. Kobe's love of soccer has been very well-documented. Could you imagine him as a center back or a goalkeeper? His promotion of women's sports in recent years was becoming a larger part of his legacy before his untimely passing. He certainly wasn't a perfect person, but I do think he was able to learn and grow from his mistakes more than nearly any other professional athlete I've seen.
He never could have been a keeper--too much out of his control and waiting for things to happen. (I don't mean that in a snarky way, but the way his drive worked would never have fit the GK mindset. If he ever had played keeper, it would have been Campos style, thinking he should score as much as anyone else on the pitch . . .) With his combination of quickness, size, jumping ability, and body control (he had phenomenal footwork because he really worked at it), I think he could have been a deeply scary forward.
Got my first ECNL (friendly) and Mid-South Conference games next week! I'm excited. But first... let's work back on my exercises.... Eek. I did 3 games of running after about 2 months inactivity and I'm still feeling it 2 days later. Not good.
Good point about Kobe being an attacker instead of a keeper. One thought was someone of his height and athletic ability being able to be a brick wall and do some Ederson-type things (I believe Ederson is 6-4 or 6-5). In all honesty, though, I looked at Kobe and initially thought of a more athletic Virgil Van Dijk as a soccer player. But to say Kobe could have been a taller Cristiano Ronaldo isn't far-fetched, either.
This isn't a 'good' story but it is the story I have. I didn't pass the national fitness test on Sunday. There are a number of reasons but it all comes down to my lungs not being fit enough. I did spend most of my run in the second/third lane and at work someone mentioned that it is a longer run that way. So I looked it up. Lane 3 is ~15 meters longer which breaks down to 7.5 meters on the end intervals and a run of about 80.75 meters (lane 2 is 77.88). No wonder I was so gassed so early. I guess my moral of the story is that I need to train in the 3rd lane and maybe be a little more selfish.
My good story is I played a soccer game for the first time in a decade. AYSO low-key, volunteer-only adult league. Fun to be on the other side. And I'm not too sore . . .
No, I'm avoiding being a GK as my body is too old for certain left-over instincts from when I used to play keeper--my main goal i not getting hurt. (Also the league's goal--no sliding/diving near others and a very low foul threshold.) But to my surprise, I scored. We had a former FIFA AR as our ref . . . Tom Bobadilla--he knows a little bit about the game!
You know, there's a reason the start for the 200 and 400 meters is staggered...…. Don't mean to pile on. I'm sure you aren't feeling good about the result. Anyone doing the physical fitness test, at any level, has to go out and try it on their own before the big day.
He should pull out one of his old FIFA badges when he referees. "Hey, ref! How can you know what you're doing when you're wearing that silly-looking white badge?!"
I don't take it as piling on. I got a combination cold & double pink eye less than 3 weeks before the test. My last training before that, I had failed on the 35th interval, and after a week of no cardio, I was back down to low 20s. I'm kicking myself that I didn't push harder in my training through the pain and tell my wife, you can go to the gym, I'm going to the track. I did pass it on my own on Thursday, but that was after sunset with a chilly breeze not late morning in the sun at 20 degrees warmer than I'd been training it for the past two weeks.
I'm sorry, @Dayton Ref. The first time I took the National Test (in 80F+ no less), I had one runner - probably the strongest in our group - who kept forcing me and others to the outside lanes with his run. We had a supportive group and we were trying to motivate each other, except for this one fellow, who at lap 8 I finally got to move over and share the inside lane.
I have always found that the test is not as hard if you have a cooperative group that works together. After a few intervals, everybody should be able to find their place within the group. Some people like to go out really fast. Some people push harder at the end. A good group dynamic can go a long way toward passing or failure.
On a windy day, our group rotated who was in front, allowing the guys behind the front runners to draft off of them. When we were still doing the 12 minute run. I knew I could pass by just running a consistent lap time. Two officials were coming from out of state to take the test with us, because they had failed back home. I told them "just stay with me. We can do this." At the start, however, they hung back and were at least 10 meters behind after 100 meters. I couldn't pass if I stayed with them, so I took off to do the time I needed to do. They failed and I passed. After the instruction that morning, the two were given another chance. One did not finish and the other didn't come close. These were not fat, overweight officials. They were just out of shape. One of them now has a white badge. I guess the message was clear: You have to train regularly if you want to do games at that level.
One thing I've thought about with the new 75/25 test is why couldn't the test be run on a 100-meter straightaway with 2 12.5 meter walking zones where you do a "down and back" walking path for the 25 meters? This is similar to the old NISOA 12-minute "down and back" test over a 100 meter distance. That would eliminate the issue with the outside lanes adding distance, and you could have up to 16 people run the test at the same time (8 on each straightaway) if you had enough administrators to make sure everyone was walking the full 25 meters. The change of direction with walking would even replicate the changes of direction we handle in a game. When I do the 75/25 fitness test on an outdoor track for training, I actually run it this way instead of all the way around the track. When I run the test indoors, I run it around the track because a) I don't want to swim against the rest of the salmon and b) The track at my club is 200 meters, so I can step off two 75/25 repeats per lap.
We've been given a layout option that is essentially what you say, @RefIADad . It shows a field with the lines at/near the 18s,, with the walk part to the 6 and back. Obviously need to adjust for the actual length of the field. I'm not sure I'd get too hung up on the 25m part; the intent is more to recover between sprints. I'm thinking about it. No issues with lane selection, as you say. And I can do it with 2 proctors instead of 4-8.
Dutch Referee Blog has the layout. I personally prefer the track setting because I like the continuous forward motion and rhythm.
I was doing a dual on a HSB JV game last night. Kid for white shoots a screamer, I swear it hits off the crossbar and drops almost straight down. No goal. This high school has a video scoreboard where they show the game live and occasional replays. Visiting coach says it hit the inside of the goal, on a back corner support. Says it was clear in the replay. He's good natured about it, it's only JV. But it bothers me that I could have missed it that badly. At the end of the game I talk to the head coach of the home team. My understanding is that they can show the game, but they aren't supposed to show controversial plays. In this case, referee mistakes. Particularly this night, as it's the cross-town rivalry. Before the varsity game starts the sports information director for the district seeks me out about my concern. I repeat the thing about controversial plays and he says they know and they never show them. I ask about the goal by white and he says in never went in. He pulled out his phone and shows me a slow motion replay. I was right!! It happened just as I thought it did. As we move away I tell him he can show controversial plays if they show that I am right. I never had another chance to talk to the visiting coach.