The NFHS just published their Points of Emphasis for the 2020 - 2021 season. Point #3 is about the pregame meeting and how it's an opportunity for education because "High school athletics is education-based, and some mechanics of our game are intentionally different from other levels of soccer." With statements like that, I wonder how often the rule writers have officiated soccer games?
From a few years back (I've posted this story before): Another HS 9th grade girls game today. Both teams just send me captains a few minutes early - that's a first. So I have to jog to my bag to get a coin. One of them asks what kind of coin, so I show them all a 50 cent piece and ask if anyone knows which president is on it. Blank stares. Ok, first one with a correct guess gets to keep it. Eisenhower? No. Roosevelt? Nope. Putin? One of them did finally guess Kennedy and I was 50 cents lighter.
I did that with an Eisenhower dollar (except for the giving it to them). I told them he was president when I was born. "Washington?" Grrrrrr. I'm glad we can use this "Best Stories of 2020" to tell all our old stories, since there are very few new ones. I no longer ref, but I schedule games for some of our rec leagues. Today was the day suggested for a modified half-season start - well that didn't work! - because when we were planning back in February we had no idea what we were dealing with. Interesting enough, the temp today (34 degrees as I type this) is more like the temps we might encounter when we normally start the 2nd or 3rd week of April.
The committee is not intentionally structured this way, but the typical composition is about one third referees, one third coaches and one third state administrators. The "points of emphasis" are chosen by a sub-committee on the last day of the meeting. There is no consultation with the other members of the committee before the sub-committee meets. IMHO, the points of emphasis are a time honored tradition in NFHS rule writing but the results are read and immediately forgotten by coaches, referees and athletic directors. YMMV.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/story/2020-05-11/soccer-referee-katja-koroleva-covid-19 LA Times article about WC ref Katja Koroleva's work as a PA in the ER in the Covid crisis.
I ran/walked a mile the other day. I haven't ran almost at all since early March, so my legs really felt it. Looking forward to getting back into shape!
Well, it looks like I'll be back at it this weekend. Got an email yesterday that UPSL would be starting back up we should update our availability. I looked at the league, which appears to be 60%-70% smaller in Houston than last summer (no surprise there) so I wasn't sure that I'd end up with anything. But sure enough, I got a line on Saturday night and a center on Sunday. Good thing I've been training better during the quarantine than I was before.
While family and job responsibilities probably won't allow me to do a whole lot of games, I have jumped back into being available for college soccer officiating. My location in the Des Moines, IA area puts me into a pretty good location to work some local games during the week. I return to my home on the weekends, and there are several colleges within a short drive. First priority will always still be to attend my son's games, so I'll still referee plenty of USSF club games around his games (and I REALLY hope I don't have to run lines for his games this fall!). However, that's a nice option to have on the table.
Minnesota just got the go-ahead to resume youth sports next Wednesday. No word from the organizing bodies yet. All official summer league play has been cancelled but there could be scrimmages starting soon, so I’m happy. I haven’t worked a game since March 8th, and I am really missing it.
Might be a while. Alabama had the go-ahead June 15 to resume but have not heard a peep. Honestly, I'm not surprised considering our situation.
Thankfully Alabama USSF referees won't have to pay to recertify. In Georgia, professional, youth and amateur sports teams were allowed to resume games and practices starting June 16 so long as their respective leagues allow it, according to the governor’s office. Sports leagues have previously been advised that they may draft their own distancing and cleanliness rules.
Last week, New York announced that certain regions would be allowed to resume certain low risk youth sports. Those sports are baseball, softball, cross country, crew, and field hockey. I am not sure how field hockey made the list when soccer did not. To me, it seems that there is just as much contact in field hockey as there is in soccer. Maybe someone in the governor's office has a child that plays field hockey!
The state has updated its list of low risk sports. Now New York has added soccer to the list of youth sports that can resume on July 6. https://www.eveningtribune.com/spor...-of-which-sports-can-and-cant-resume-july-6/1
Because, um, soccer is a non-contact sport? As distinguished from "contact lacrosse?" Oh yeah, faceoffs. But, headers ... Oh never mind.
We are considering gridiron football, basketball, wrestling and cheer/dance to be the sports with the highest level of contact. Soccer is in a middle tier. Even the coaches on our planning committee go "huh?" at that classification. The only explanation I've heard is that the contact in soccer is very brief. Cf. football linemen and the length of time players are in the pile at the end of a play. Isn't futsal pretty much a no contact sport?
TBH, they are truly guessing. I feel it’s not the amount of time playing as it’s the amount of time together. Truly do not know what will happen.
One of the local rec soccer leagues in this county starts back Saturday. They are asking refs to wear masks while doing the pregame checks. They are providing them for those who don't have them. Now I get to feel how much cardio I didn't do since March. They are all U12 and below.
The last time I was weighed was the Monday after my last game in March. 349 lbs. Down from 400 when I first started refereeing. So I need the cardio. Sadly, I won't get it. We just got notified that "due to the recent information received regarding positive cases, they are cancelling the summer season." So I will get back on the field in August for a preseason tournament in Montgomery, or when there is a vaccine in 20 years. Or somewhere in between.