Archive for April, 2008

Getting VERY Impatient With Official Sports

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

Alright. . .I’m definitely feeling that I have to vent. I’m very quickly losing patience with Official Sports. OSI and USSF announced the new-style shirts at the 2007 MLS Cup. That was November 18, 2007. Now here we are FIVE MONTHS LATER and they still can’t meet demand. […]

Mistakes Made = Lessons Learned

Monday, April 21st, 2008

One major difference between players and referees is that referees can’t go to practice. Sure we can read the LoTG and the Advice To Referees, but real improvement can only come from doing matches, making mistakes, and learning from them. Of course the spectators, coaches, and players don’t want to hear/know that a […]

Girls Gone Wild

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

Last night I did a U15 Girls State Cup match and it was one of the craziest matches I’ve done in a while.  In the first half, the white team whined and complained every time one of them was even remotely touched, much less hit the ground.  During this time, the red team pretty much […]

Now The Real Work Begins

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

This weekend, I received an e-mail inviting me to represent OH South at this year’s Youth Regionals (Region II). This will be my first time at Regionals, and I’m thrilled and honored. As the title says - now the real work begins.
 
“I feel ready, and yet unprepared”
– Garbage from “The World Is Not […]

Fitness, Part 2

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Well. . .yesterday was my first 4-match day, and it was sort of a wakeup call.  My first match was a U15 boys middle and I thought it went well, even with a send-off.   Then I had two ARs, a U17 boys and a U16 girls.  To finish the day I had a U16 boys […]

Subjective Misconduct

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

Law 12 outlines the cautionable misconduct offenses as unsporting behavior, dissent, persistent infringement, delays the restart, fails to respect the required distance, enters/reenters without permission, and leaves the field without permission.  Most are pretty cut-and-dried for the most part.  Although most players and coaches I’ve worked with have bought into the myth of “he has […]

The Importance of Fitness

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

With all the rain we’ve had in March here in Ohio (5” above normal for the month), I’ve already had roughly 15 games washed out so far this season. Trying to turn a negative into a positive, it’s given me a chance to work some more on my fitness. The older I get […]