Use of hand signals

Hey Keith, I don't know why you are having a go at me - for all I know US High School rules may be better than FIFA rules. I don't know, and don't really care. I was just interested that there was a difference. As I said, it is impossible for us to get any 'local' changes made for social 'pub team' football here.

It seems to be the only sport where different rules can be played in this way. If you take your rugby example, rules are rules - in whatever country you play, the International Rugby Board rules apply.

 

Looks like there is a lot of life left in this thread. As long as the discussion stay civil, it will remain open.

 

Well, Grey, join the club. After a week of scrimmages, I had my first regular game of the season yesterday as well. I have been trying to use the signals jsut to make sure I am comfortable with them. However, in MA at least, there has been no mention of them in our most recent newsletter, nor do any of our brother or sister officials seem to be paying much attention.

The funny thing I am experiencing is that no-one seems to notice them. When you blow the whistle, make the signal, and show direction, the players aren't watching for a signal, neither are the coaches,they are looking at the game and the opponents.

To illustrate, this past weekend I worked a little jamboree/scrimmage where four boys varisty teams did a round robin and before his game, one of the coaches asked me if I would be giving the signals. I made sure to clearly signal every call. After the game I asked him whether they had help and, he admitted that, aside from the direction of the throws, he had not been aware that I had made any signals at all.

It should be an interesting season.

 

If you're suggesting that playing with the high school players is playing with your friends, then that's where you'd be wrong. These guys spend 9 months a year with their club team -- that's where their friends are.

Again, you seem to be confused. In high school, we play the same 16 to 18 teams year after year. When we advance in the state championship, we may see some new opponents, but since we attempt to schedule the best in the state, we've frequently already played some of them too.

In club soccer, we play 25-40 games from teams ALL OVER the country -- literally thousands of possible opponents. Where are you from that your club teams play only 1 or 2 opponents.

Well, you're going to have to allow me to take the first state of this blurb personally. My son is not living through my vicarious dreams. I had my dreams of playing college ball (pointy football). I had barely even seen a soccer ball let alone played one until my son started playing. Once he fell in love with it and told me at about age 11 that his (note HIS, not mine) dream was to play for the US National Team, I started doing the best I could do as a parent to provide him that opportunity. Now, he's probably never going to play for the Nats, but he is garnering some interest from colleges and may be good enough to make it to the pro level if he keeps working at it.

Saying that he should play soccer with the riff raff (your term, not mine) is like saying that someone smart enough to get a degree at MIT should be going to the local community college. Life is about striving to be your best. I don't call that elitist -- I call that setting goals and reaching for them.

 

I've got 15 HS games under my belt this season. In the first 4 or 5, I was trying to give my signals -- particularly in the JV games that move a little slower. But when I got into Boys Varsity games, I found myself just moving with the flow of game and I completely forgot about the signals. I didn't get any complaints.

 

I meant to ask you about that earlier Greyhnd. When PA readopted the signals last year, the comment was made that Michigan and a few other states never dropped them. However, from what you natives have said, it sounds like they haven't been used recently in Michigan, at least not in your areas of the state. Although PA is divided into numerous districts, PIAA keeps a fairly tight, centralized grip from one end of the state to the other. Are the different regions in Michigan permitted greater autonomy to set their own standards and procedures?

 

I don't referee MHSAA. I live in Indiana. My son plays club out of Kalamazoo (an hour away) and high school in Indiana. I referee club in both Indiana and Michigan as well as around the country at tournaments. I referee HS in Indiana only.

Some of my Michigan compadre's and some of my NISOA compadre's have been trying to get me to do MHSAA and/or NISOA but I've got 47 HS games on the schedule in Indiana the way it is, so between that, travel and adult league games, I keep telling them that I've got all the games I could possibly handle. Why complicate my life by having to deal with 2 or 3 assignors pulling me different directions instead of just 1.