"football, basketball, ice hockey, wrestling and volleyball" are high risk. I would think that football could have some easy modifications, like full face shields on the helmet and requiring the helmet on at all times, to make it safer than the others. No reason Ice Hockey couldn't do the same. Or is it body contact and transmission from clothes to clothes to face that is the concern? As for soccer, at the youth rec level this may be okay. If you're talking about more competitive play I don't see a difference between basketball and soccer when you're talking about cornerkicks and other similar set plays.
I think part of the football risk isn’t on field but very large teams in locker rooms—pretty tough to put on your football gear at home and come to the game. Basketball is much higher risk. Yes, in soccer certain set pieces involve close contact, but in hoops that is the majority of the game. And it’s inside in a much smaller space. The amount of time in close proximity is a critical factor in likelihood of transmission—the more viruses that make it into your body, the more likely you are to get sick.
The article is specifically talking about 'contact sports' which makes it difficult to say that the locker room has anything to do with it especially if you're talking about youth sports. I almost discussed the frequency of tight situations in my original post, but then deleted it because I didn't see the relevance. That's like saying it's okay to eat at a buffet once a week, but 5 days a week is not safe. If someone is infected and marking tight on a CK, then the frequency doesn't matter. And, yes, there are many angles to this. Youth vs adult vs professional comes into play as well. I will say that the locals where I am decided a month ago that pickup was just fine and have been playing several time a week. I'm in what has been a low infection rate area.
Frequency certainly matters. The amount and extent of exposure matters. That’s why indoor is worse than outdoor. And how long you are close to the infected person matters. They are trying to identify risk. It’s pretty clear, even from the article, that contact is only one of the factors. Volleyball is on the high risk list—like basketball, it is played indoors.
We're way off topic so I'll leave my side at your statements match some of the experts and studies I've read and completely contradict other studies and experts. In a world where everyone wants to play it safe to the extreme, I just find it odd that they would choose one set of experts over the other here.
Well, let's try this again. My first games back since March 8 is a 5v5 tournament. Eight games with U15-U18 players on a U8 size field. No offside. All six fields are on the two stadium fields and spectators are only allowed in the bleachers. Social distancing from the parents! I'm bringing water, a mask, water, sunscreen, water, a chair to sit on, water, my gear, oh...and probably some water. Looking forward to being back on the field! Just hope this doesn't get cancelled 12 hours before first kick like the rec summer league did. Any thoughts on how to officiate this? Stay in the center circle?
U-8 size field? 5 v 5? I'd stay off the field, for the most part. Just run the touchline on the side opposite the benches, since there won't be any spectators on that side. You don't have to worry about offside and this way you don't get hit by the ball and/or teenager size players not watching where they are going.
I thought about that with a 40x25 field. Especially with the substitution rule. "Substitution Method: "Flying substitution" (all players but the goalkeeper enter and leave as they please; goalkeeper substitutions can only be made when the ball is out of play and with a referee's consent)." I never officiated hockey and haven't played hockey in 35+ years. So watching for line changes should be interesting.
While you are reffing this game that resembles soccer, do you know if you have any liability insurance? I'm not sure if the policy from USSF would apply.
While this may be different, I have refereed tournaments like this and was covered by USSF insurance. The organization was a group that was in good standing with USSF (sister organization of the club that my son used to play for), and we played by FIFA Laws with the exception of the rules of competition. The games were 4v4 and no goalkeepers on fields that were 35 yards by 25 yards. We also had an event sponsored by our state's soccer association that was 6v6 or 7v7 on 55 x 30 yard fields with keepers. The referees were assigned by the state's governing body, so we were definitely covered by insurance. In both this event and the 4v4 event in the previous paragraph, subs were "on the fly". However, because of how the subs work, I hardly ever saw subs while the ball was in play. The subs occurred while the ball was out of play. I just didn't have to hold the game up for the subs. All of that to say USSF insurance may very well apply, but it's a question I would ask of the organizer to make sure. Now for the mechanics, it took me a couple of games to get used to the mechanics. What I generally decided on was to begin every restart on the side of the field away from the restart. In other words, if the restart was on the parent's sideline, I moved to the bench sideline. Once the ball was in play, I stayed on that sideline (too difficult to swing back and forth on such a small field). My overall goal was to have as much of the play in my field of vision as possible. I then moved enough to get an angle and not be blocked by any players. If the ball came to my sideline during play, I moved off the field.
If the event is sanctioned by the state youth or adult association, it is 'affiliated' and you are covered by USSF's insurance. All USSF affiliated games must be assigned by a USSF registered assignor. If a USSF assignor is also assigning unaffiliated games, they must inform the USSF referees they assign that the games are unaffiliated.
Any thoughts about player management of high school age players? The only times I have had the whistle is U12 and below, except one other time. I imagine U12 and below are handled differently than 15-18 year olds.
Yes you would certainly be correct on that point My two cents - be accurate, be confident. A good referee naturally breeds respect from all around, more than a loudmouth that tries to buy goodwill. Respond when spoken to, be courteous and honest. Use your personality and don’t be afraid to engage in discussion if the situation allows. I have found players to be very forgiving post-Covid. I think there’s an appreciation of “we’re all just happy to be here”. Most of all - have fun! They all kind of seem like over generalizations, but hoping that might help a bit.
Everything Fischetto said above about confidence and accurate decision making. I found treating them like mini-adults works. Just keep in mind (especially with the more advanced ones) less coaching is needed with the youths. Unless you are communicating to them misconduct and fouls. Call simple fouls and don’t take dissent (mostly from boys). I have found girls dissent usually with actions (FRD, DR,). The sooner you can manage the clowns or the players who are going to cause you problems the better off you’ll be. Tbh I think you’ll have a bit of learning curve. Especially if you mostly do U-Littles. Just go out there have fun and use your personality (when communicating with players, smart humor, honesty, etc). So many referee coaches say have personality on the field yet fail to mention what exactly that means. Speed of play is another thing but after a few matches you’ll find the jump in even a couple years refreshing and love the faster paced matches
You will also have to adjust to a different level of physicality in the game. These teens still aren’t doing the arm mugging and light holding of the pros, but there is definitely activity that you would call a foul in a 12U game that the players expect to play through routinely.
@Law5 Your suggestion to stay off the field was spot on. In game one, there was a time where play was on the bench side for a while, and I crept toward the PA to get closer to play. The ball was crossed and a defender intercepted it. As he attempted a counter attack I was right smack in his way. I made it a point to stay off the field the rest of the day. Overall it was fun. These high schoolers for the most part were chill and having fun. Once, a player got testy with me when I called a foul but his keeper intervened. It was quite different. Very often when a player misplayed the ball or took a bad shot, the player would use expletives, either mostly quietly, or a bit louder. No one yelled one. But something I never hear at the U12 and below levels. Every once in a while I'd tell them to "not say that loud enough for the folks in the bleachers to hear it." They didn't. The high of 95 and a heat index of 105 was miserable. Wearing the mask during check-in and the coin toss was tough, but doable. I was supposed to wear the mask at halftime and between games, but I was a good ten feet from each bench. So I didn't bother.
Just got home from my first games in over five months. Two high school-aged 9 v 9 games on U12-sized fields at our local sports complex with 2 20-minute halves. So I basically worked a regulation high school match with water breaks since I did two games. I'm in a little better shape than I thought I was, but still nowhere near where I really want to be. I worked a lot on the tips I learned in the Chris Penso RWISOA webinar about being quick and explosive (well, at least by my standards) to get a better angle. It helped a lot. Second game I started to slow down a little bit, which I expected. I had to work harder to get to my angles, which was expected. After the first game, I talked with two high school coaches I know pretty well and am friends with. One of them said, "You even work hard in these games!", which I took as a very good compliment. For better or worse, I really only know one way to go, and that's more or less all-out. Overall, I was very happy with how I did. I called a penalty on the goalkeeper in my second game for cleaning out the attacker, which of course led to the inevitable cries of "open season on the goalie!" since fans think the keeper can pretty much do anything without punishment. I definitely need to keep working on my fitness heading into next month. Fortunately, my son's coach is also letting me officiate their scrimmages during practice, which give me some additional chances to keep working game-type situations. That's the best way for me to keep working my way into fitness, as training can only do so much.
Interesting story from tonight. I was supposed to ref my third and fourth games since our return from COVID. The league is a 7v7 summer league. I arrive at 6:30 for the 7 P.M. kickoff only for the site coordinator to tell me that the games at 7 were cancelled due to lightning (makes sense as it was thundering right over our heads). So I wait around for the 8:20 P.M. game. The game starts off smoothly and we are a couple of minutes away from halftime when I notice lightning strikes in the distance. Now this lightning is not terribly close (you couldn't hear thunder), but it was extremely obvious and was flashing almost nonstop. I went to the site coordinator and told him that we needed to suspend play due to U.S. Soccer's lightning guidelines. He told me that the app on his phone said that the lightning was not within ten miles, so they would not stop playing. He also told me that I was free to leave if I did not feel comfortable finishing the match. So that's what I did. I was not at all comfortable with the idea of ignoring U.S. Soccer's lightning policy. Surprisingly, none of the other refs stopped their matches and continued as I left the facility. I contacted the assignor and left a message when I got home. I was hesitant to make the decision, but I am now convinced that it was the right one.
Good for you and thank you for doing that. I've shared this story before, but a referee was killed by a lightning strike in my hometown when I was growing up. I cannot say how angry it makes me when people don't take it seriously. Thank you for doing so.
You did the right thing. I always tell other referees that it is easier for teams to survive a penalty kick than a lightning strike!
I got to mentor a new ref last weekend. We threw together a small-sided league for our kids and had two fields side by each. Planned to mix up novice and less-inexperienced refs so I could focus on one per session; heat and pooped-out kids left me with just one session having a brand-new ref. She's I guess a rising junior, CB by trade so she already watches everything. She was confident right off the bat and looked very comfortable. Water breaks and short halves gave us plenty chances to check in; one question was "so how close should I be to them?" She remarked that if she scaled up dimensions/distances to full field, she'd be [miffed] at how far away the ref was from everything. Yesss, grasshopper. Finishing one water break, she called out to one team to return to the field. I told her, "at this age and distance, you could call them, or you could tweet-tweet your whistle. Covers more distance, easier, and the whole field knows you are herding your flock." Returning from next break, she did exactly that, with a smile and a nod over my way. Just got a late cancel for tomorrow's games. Now she's working two weeks in a row.
For any reasonable person, they will support your decision. When in doubt, ALWAYS err on the side of safety and caution. Hopefully, your assignor calls the site coordinator and tears that individual a new one for such reckless behavior.
During the RWISOA session that Ted and Christina Unkel led, Ted said that the accepted position for referees now being taught is 16-18 yards instead of the 10 yards that I think many of us have learned over the years. Even in some of the small-field games/scrimmages I'm doing as my pre-season, I'm trying hard to be at the right angle instead of being right on top of play. Much more often than not, it's a big help. I really only got caught once last night in a 50-minute 9v9 scrimmage (U13 boys vs U12 boys) where I didn't get a good look through players on an angle. I ended up calling the foul on my son, and he let me know after the game that the other player had a hold of his shirt first. I was doing the game solo, so it was a situation where it was right on the sideline and my AR (if I had one) would have likely caught the shirt pull. However, I was behind them by about 20 yards and near the middle of the field, so I didn't have a good angle. Good lesson from that play.
The best story of the week for me is that our high school soccer season will happen this fall, just with the first games delayed until after September 22. The championships will be on the same schedule, so the regular season will be compressed. As I told the coaches on our last coordinating meeting, if you're playing three games a week, instead of two, there surely will be at least one game that week that won't be that competitive, whether your team is going to win or going to lose, so that's the chance to give the end of the bench players more playing time. Very similar to the way that, for example, EPL teams handle FA Cup games and the like. I got some "hummm" noises that took to mean 'that makes sense.'
Interesting, since your neighbors to the north (i.e. Washington state) moved their girl's soccer season from Fall to early Spring (and boy's from early Spring to late Spring). I really hope it works out!