Offside or not offside. That is the question.

Monday:  First, I'm going to whine about my knees.  OUCH.  They are killing me.  I am a mtn biker and skier, not a runner.  I have not had a good chance to train my legs since my cold in early March and the subsequent Spring Cup.  So I go week to week with some ailment.  Today, both my knees are killing me.  I hobbled through Continental's Houston hub today, which I think requires the most walking of any major airport in the US and has the least amount of moving walkways.  Maybe except for O'Hare, if you ever have the fortune of going from gate C23 to F11.

OK Soccer!  I had two HS games (one JV, one Level 3) and 3 President's Cup games this week.


The HS games were a nice break from the chaos of the President's Cup.  The HS games were reasonably well played, the parents and coaches behaved themselves, and I worked with some good refs.  I am finally comfortable running the dual control system (although there are certainly times it would be nice to have a CR).  I know Varsity is a whole 'nother ballgame, but for now I'll enjoy the relatively stress-free sub Varsity environment.

Ah yes the President's Cup.  I knew I was fortunate to work State's Cup games considering my experience level, but wow I long for those games!  I'll have to figure out how to show proper respect to that Assignor to get back there.  LOL.

The President's Cup games are, in a word, rough.  The skill level just isn't quite there, and as a result the games are physical.  The parents are...well...parents and the players are constantly asking for fouls.  The coaches are mostly reasonable, although I did have the opportunity to yet again lecture one coach on the fine art of properly objecting to my calls.

I am sure all refs go through a phase wondering why they bother.  I felt that way after my first game this weekend (see below).  I remind myself the only way to continue to develop my game management is to work more of these games.  The feedback I receive from other refs is all about positioning and more clear signalling (along with the fact I apparently like to bend down when I am super focused - who knew?).  Universally I am told my foul recognition is where it should be.  So of course if they assign me another Prez Cup game next weekend I'll accept it (and the Assignor asked if I was available for some makeups, unfortunately I am not).

• First game U-14 CR.  Chippy game.  I, like most refs, prefer to "let them play" in the penalty area, as we dislike to give away a cheap PK.  But this time there was an obvious two handed full force push off in the box.  I had to call this one.  The great news is both my ARs saw the same thing and totally agreed with my call.  Of course, one parent who obviously thinks they are a Grade 1 FIFA ref questioned my vision and just about everything else, but I'm learning to ignore those who are ignorant.  In the second half, a player screamed "GET HIM OFF OF ME" to me.  He then got to listen to one of my better calming speeches, and he calmed down.
• After a game off, U-16 CR.  Highest game I have run Center.  I had a deflected handling in the box which I called, then immediately wondered what I was thinking.  Players, parents, and coaches all think handling is easy to call, but trust me, it isn't.  Fortunately, the keeper bailed me out.  Later, I had a foul that, in retrospect, could have been a Persistent Infringement (PI) caution.  I decided a stern lecture was the better way to manage it.  So a no card U-16 game.  In passing, my experience is 90% of the games U-14 and under don't require a card, whereas 90% of the U-15+ games DO require at least one card.
• U-17 AR1.  One team decided to run an offside trap the entire game.  This means two things.  #1 - when the trap is being run on my side of the field, my knowledge of offside infractions was tested.  #2 - this being the President's Cup, the trapping team gave up a few breakaway goals as 2 of the defenders would trap, but the other one would be slow, and here comes a breakaway!  The CR gave out 3 yellow cards, which meant it was a typical U-17 game.

I got some good feedback on improving my positioning on Free Kicks, Goal Kicks, and Corner Kicks.  One ref told me I should visualize 10 yards as opposed to counting steps when I set the wall for a Ceremonial Free Kick.  Interesting, but I think what he was saying is to put attention on where I was setting the wall, and less on it looking like I am counting steps.