Meat Loaf

The "Meat Loaf" reference is to his song "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad."  This past weekend, I had two great games.  The third (which was my first)...well...

The first game was a CYS Option 1 U13 F game.  The particular home club for this game only supplies a CR.  So we ask for and get parent 'volunteer' ARs.  Sometimes you get a fully certified USSF ref, sometimes you get a parent who has "done this before."  At any rate, the rule is that we cannot consult the 'volunteer' ARs on fouls - just throw ins, GKs, corner kicks, and offside if they know the rule.  The U13 game went well for the first 65 minutes.  Nice flow, just a few fouls.  THEN came minute 66.  Team A, which was winning 1-0 had a breakaway.  I am trailing the play.  There was a collision in the penalty area for Team B.  The girls went down in a heap.  From my trailing viewpoint, I saw a fair challenge.  Play on.  Then it was obvious the girls were hurt, so I stopped play.



I think you could have heard the coach for Team A up in Wyoming.  He was going ballistic.  I was tending to the girls and then called the coaches on the field to help them.  Then I started wondering - did I miss this call?  Remember, I cannot ask a volunteer AR for assistance on a foul.  It's my call and my call alone.  The girls were moved off of the field (stunned more than anything else) and I resumed play.  Of course, in the 70th and final minute, Team A committed a handling in their penalty area, right in front of me, so it was an easy call.

As I'm setting the girls up for the "extended time" PK, my thought was "OMG if she makes this  Team A coach's head may explode."  She missed.  Team A won 1-0.  The Team A coach asked me my call and I explained it to him.  That being said, in retrospect once I had the injuries under control, I should have explained my call to the Team A coach and "asked" him to tone his dissent down.  "Ask" is significant in soccer - it means as a coach this is your first warning in the "Ask, Tell, Dismiss" guideline for handling dissenting coaches.  Lesson learned.  I did ask the volunteer ARs if they saw any different, and the parent closest to the 'event' saw what I did - a collision on a fair challenge.  That made me feel better, but it would have been nice to have an AR that could have fed me information.

My other two games, which were both "Rec" games, went extremely well.  Received compliments from both coaches and volunteer ARs - one dude commented "I really like how you controlled the game.  You were very consistent in your calls."

So Two out of Three Ain't Bad...but I still think about the one.

Good news - I have 6 State Cup Games.  Two CRs, rest are ARs (seems like there's rotation on the crews).  I have a mix of games on Sat and U-14 Boys and a U-17 Boys on Sunday (AR for the U-17 game).  I'm really looking forward to the experience, as this is the best of the best in Boys U-12 through U-19 and Girls U12 - U14 in Colorado.  Since Spring is HS girls season, the older clubs do not play during HS season (same for boys in the Fall).