Kickoff!

The regular season has started!  The bumps and bruises from recent action:

• Injuries.  In my games this month I've seen a broken wrist, a knee injury, a possible concussion, a broken foot, and (in my son's game) a fractured shoulder.  I know soccer is a contact sport, and as referees we generally try to let the players "play through" contact, but when I see an injury my first thought is "was there a foul I could've called now or earlier to have prevented that injury?" 
• Advanced Referees.  Perhaps by coincidence...or maybe not...but in my recent games I have worked with a Grade 5, a few Grade 6s (one of which I worked with before), and Grade 7s.  In the case of the Grade 5 ref, first of all I'm glad I found out at the last minute he was a Grade 5 otherwise I would've been nervous as hell.  The game I was CR was a U-12 Girls game - so not terribly taxing.  His comment?  "How long have you done this - you have no bad habits."  Well those were beaten out of me last Spring.  That's good feedback.  Equally unfortunately, I wish their games were tougher.  Maybe they are not because, well, they are so experienced they just 'know' how to keep things under control.  I would've liked to learn more about how they control the Technical Area and how they deal with 'tough' situations on the field.  I'd like to get better with dealing with the Technical Area as that to me is an area for improvement.

•  After play watching.  One piece of good advice I received is, when there is potential for contact after the play, to count "one thousand one, one thousand two" then look away to the next play.  I had an Premier - 1 (our top league) U-14 girls' game which reminded me a lot about U-14 boys' games - fast pace, lots of chippy contact, and plenty of after the ball contact.  That advice helped me manage the temperature of the 2nd half of my U-14 girls' game - I called 3 after the play fouls for charging in the first 10 min.  They got the message - don't slam into the other person after the play when it is  reasonable to avoid it.

• Being a Parent.  My son's team so far has had younger refs on their games, whether CR or AR (or both).  I've had to bite my tongue a few times.  Is it appropriate after the game to give advice (positioning, game management, etc)?  If I worked with the refs prior to his game, then they know I'm watching and even ask me to let them know if I see anything.

This week HS starts so I get to deal with JV and Level 3 boys.  Labor Day Weekend we start Fall State Cup and Prez Cup - not sure I will have too many games since I'm unavailable except for Mon morning.  We shall see.  Until next time...