On a reverse diagonal as an AR, I'd get confused a time or two which hand to use to signal a goal kick. Not a biggie. As center, I'd find myself drifting over toward my normal pathways, finding myself too near to the AR. Or being sure it was an offside, and looking to my right and thinking, "Where's that AR? Oh yeah, over my left shoulder a few yards back with his flag raised." And perhaps grinning at me.
I wish more of us ran these. I have developed some really nasty lat/hip issues on my left side from sprinting while looking left. When I get eh occasional reverse CR it feel soooooo good.
I got to work some fill-in spots SAT at the Midwest regionals. Watching a match on the field before ours and saw a CR struggling in the heat to keep up. She was kind of short and not in super athletic shape, but she was grinding through it. When we went to our bench area she was kneeling down on one knee an staring into space, I asked if she was ok...no response, I tapped her shoulder and asked again...no response. Screamed for the medic and had her sit with support. Firefighter medics took her to the hospital for severe heat exhaustion, but I heard she was ok. Poor kid, came all the way down to STL from Minnesota just to get slowly broiled from the turf up. This weather is NASTY
Thank you for intervening. As I told my crew chief on Saturday, most people don't realize their are in trouble with the heat. Someone else has to be the one to notice and get them help. The heptathlon athlete who passed out Sunday wanted to get back out there and throw the jav, before running the 800. Cooler heads, literally and figuratively, said otherwise.
@ptref Chris Penso said, "If the crew is comfortable with them, I don't see why not." The first part resulted in nobody using them until at least the semis.
Wait... so ... do they fill up ARs at Regionals with local ARs who may be inexperienced and in want of games?
One of my Georgia assignors sent out an email asking for "5 officials...3 officials who can arrive by 6:15 AM for 7:45/12:15/4:15 games and 2 officials who can arrive by 8:30 AM for 10:00/2:15/6:00 games..." for the Greenville SC games. They needed ARs and 4th officials. I sure wanted to throw my name in that hat, but my fitness isn't there as AR for those games, and I doubt I would be given all 4ths.
The addition of 4ths to the group stage games put a strain on the number of referees. I'd been warned that it would be likely that we would do 3 games a day to compensate but that never happened. My first center had an AR and 4O that weren't a part of an official delegation. I guess I know why now.
I didn't dare run backwards in youth games. If I tripped over one of those little urchins, they'd squish.
Due to the heat and the fact that we were playing in turf in St Louis, there were a number of officials that went down for medical reasons. The host state, Missouri, provided several additional officials to fill the gaps. But Midwest Region always has 4 officials on all games. We started the week with 224 referees.
Is that an official stance now? I remember (back in our day PT) that nobody brought comms for fear of being called out at the nightly meetings, embarrassment from Dan, or both.
I'd say almost everyone from my state (NC) attending regionals has plenty of experience with comms. They're common enough that I use them on multiple high school games per year.
I know for the old DA they said something to the like because not all the teams would have the opportunity to have a referee crews with Mic’s. I think they also said because they didn’t want it to be a crutch for learning proper mechanics first. I can’t recall where I saw that but that was what was explained to me… which I actually agree with.
I mean not all referees are vetted nor do all the states have the resources to help the officials. If you ever been to a regional event you'll know officials from some states are miles ahead of officials from other states. Its not so much they don't know proper mechanics, its more a matter of practice with officials who do use proper procedures, and those officials instituting instruction given from the event.
I was one of those additional refs. I'm registered in IL, so part of that crew, but since I'm don't live in Chicago, get ZERO exposure to opportunities. I was randomly noticed in MO at a tourney that IL couldn't host (COVID). It was the best thing that could have happened. Since then I've done MO Cup, Regionals, Academy and had several assessments. Since I'm not technically a MO ref, I responded to the call for help and got a few matches. What an amazing day for me. Got to meet loads of great people, got some state swag and learned a ton. I worked matches SAT with two guys from your group Austen (from E-Town) and Kevin (I think) from Louisville. 10/10 would recommend. These experiences that past 6 weeks have helped me grow exponentially. In my 5th year and I've learned more in that period than in most of my previous years combined. It's helped me develop better habits and confidence. I like to think I'm a damned good referee who has imposter syndrome. USYS and referee assessors/coaches have pushed me through it and I feel like there's no level I couldn't handle. This upcoming season I'll be officially in Missouri. My IL guy is going to be pissed, but I've given him far more than the vast majority. What am I saying? I'll still drive to five locations for six matches on a rainy SAT for him. ptref, THANK YOU for what you do for us all. The coaching we get at these events is invaluable.
A couple weeks ago I had a U16 girls tournament final get away from me a bit. Frustration boiled over resulting in rough fouls and I had a hard time reeling it in despite lots of whistles and a few cautions. So tonight I had another U16 girls game and decided before hand to call it tight from the start. The teams failed to cooperate. I whistled one foul and played advantage twice the entire game.
Marta San Juan Casado, former football player of the Andorra National team and referee. Tonight, at just 22 years of age, she will make her debut in the UEFA men competition as an assistant referee. She will be AR2 to referee Luís Miguel do Nascimento Teixeira in the UEFA Conference League game between Sligo Rovers FC (IRL) and FH Hafnarfjörður (ISL). She's not a FIFA official yet as you need to be at least 23 to receive the badge. She's one of the youngest UEFA officials ever. Congratulations, Marta!