Sorry to everyone. I’d been meaning to blog about my Regionals experiences on a more ongoing basis, but really haven’t been able to work it in. Some of the reasons will be clear in the review.
Day 1 - continued from last post.
Check-in was smooth for everyone. Then we all went to dinner, hosted by the Illinois delegation. And at 10pm was the nightly meeting. From what everyone told me, it was surprisingly short. I received my assignments for the following day - two AR1s. A U13B and a U14B. Game times were 8:30 & 1pm and both were at Rock Valley College. (U13 & U14 were at Rock Valley and U15+ were at Sportscore). Since we had to be at the complex a hour before game time, that meant leaving at 6:30am. I had some trouble getting to sleep since the beds are VERY hard. In another life, I was in the Army and even the beds in the barracks weren’t this hard.
Day 2 - First Matches
It was an incredibly early morning - getting up at 5:30. Not that I slept great anyway on the rock that was trying to be passed off as a bed. The matches (U13B and U14B) were pretty uneventful and my feedback was pretty decent. But throughout both matches, my calves were REALLY tight. Nothing I tried seemed to loosen them up. The 10pm meeting was a bit longer talking about the challenges and problems of the day. It seemed there were several issues with duties of the 4th official - teams had balls out of bags near the bench areas, substitutes were not wearing pennies when on the bench, and people without credentials in the bench areas. But many of the challenges of the 4th involved around dealing with players who’d been sent off and ensuring that the correct player pass was pulled. Coaches will try to game the situation and claim that an inferior player was sent off instead of who really had been shown the red card. So that was discussed in some detail. My assignments for the following day - U14B AR1 and U14G AR1.
Day 3 - Born to AR
Well. . .four matches with 4 ARs. I think I’m getting the hang of this AR thing. The U14B match went really well. The middle was quite good and he seemed to glide more than he ran. I wish my running looked that effortless. The U14G match was a little more intense, with both teams needing a win to control their destiny. We did have some issues with one of the teams, which was from a Chicago suburb. My experience with them is that they are pretty arrogant and think they get to make their own rules. They pouted and gave us attitude when we asked them to wear their credentials during the match, they didn’t always like staying in the technical area. . .just kind of a ‘better than everyone else’ attitude. But otherwise the match was fine. The Chicago-area team ended up winning the match 3-2 - not because they were better butbecause they seemed to want it more. Again, in both matches my calves were painfully tight. At the 10pm meeting, more about the duties of the 4th official because of more problems controlling the bench areas and problems relating to players who’d been sent off. Match assignments for the followig day - WOOOHOOO!!! Finally - a middle (U14G) and a 4th on a U13B.
Day 4 - Finally. . .a middle, a send-off, and a worthless field marshall.
This was the first day I didn’t have to get up at 5:30. Since my first match wasn’t until 11:30, I actually got to sleep in a couple of extra hours. The first match was a U14G middle. The match had two Chicago-area teams against each other in a winner-advances and loser-is-done scenario. And one of the teams I’d had the day before and had the attitude problems described above. So considering what was at stake and the teams involved, I expected a high level of intensity and prepared myself for that. In the first half, I felt pretty decent. I thought my positioning was OK and for the most part, the ladies settled down and played. I heard a little from the benches but nothing too bad. But I was surprised at how low the intensity was. They were playing with a just-another-match attitude. At halftime, I talked things over with the ARs and the 4th. They felt that I was a little too far away from play and sometimes it seemed like I was getting wide just for the sake of being wide. And in those situations, I had the exact same view as the AR - which isn’t what we want. In my pregame, I told my 4th that we were going to use an “Ask-Tell-Gone” method to control the benches. First, we’d ask the bench/coach to help us out and behave responsibly, then we’d tell them that they needed to behave responsibly, then the next step was for the 4th to call me over to remove the problem. At halftime, my 4th had told me both coaches had gotten to the “Ask” stage. OKfine. In the second half, I tried to work on some positioning issues the crew had identified. I heard a little flak from the benches, but left it to the 4th. As we got to about 68 minutes, the match was 3-0 for White. I signaled that I was adding 2 minutes. Very shortly after I signalled what I was adding, Blue team scores to make it 3-1. Immediately after the score, the Blue coach instructs his players to get the ball. I turn the coach and give a firm “No!” and calmly tell him it’s White’s kick and that I will add time for the goal - that I had it under control. Well. . .he didn’t like this. As I restarted with the kickoff, he apparently lit into my 4th. Apparently his comments toward my 4th had gotten personal and he had gotten into her personal space. Now, my 4th for this match was a 5′ tall blonde fireball and she did exactly what I instructed in my pregame. She called me over and we insisted that the coach be removed. Once he was gone from the bench area, we restarted play. After the remaining two minutes of time, the whistle blew to end the match. As I’m in the center circle waiting for my ARs to join me, I see the coach who’d been dismissed back with his team. Apparently, the field marshall had instructed that the sent-off coach go to far to the side of the field - but didn’t make him actually leave the field area completely like he was supposed to. Then, when the match ended the field marshall did not prevent him from coming back onto the field like he should have. So we had a situation where we had a dismissed coach back on the field to potentially cause further problems. The field marshall was completely and totally worthless. Before the match and at halftime, the field marshall was bitching about some girls having plastic or metal hair clips. So let me get this straight Mr. Field Marshall. . .you’re all over the mildly dangerous objects in the hair - but are completely unwilling or unable to fufill your duties on removing sent off personnel? I’m glad we see eye to eye on what’s really important. Here’s to you Mr. Field Marshall - you get my Most Worthless Person Of The Tournament Award. When we got back to the referee area, I found out that apparently that was the first send-off of the tournament at the Rock Valley site. When we got our feedback, it was interesting. The mentor only saw the first half and her comments were very similar to the feedback I got from the ARs and 4th at halftime. So unfortunately, she wasn’t able to see my work to improve in those areas during the second half. They only have so many assessors/mentors, so that’s the way things go.
That afternoon, I was the 4th official on a U13B match. This was one of the most pleasant matches I’d ever done. The coaches for both teams were very calm and composed. They kept their benches in order. And they were generally ver helpful with the officiating crew. The match itself was very interesting. White team scored first and then Blue tied it, making it 1-1 at halftime. The match ended 7-1 in favor of Blue. Apparently, the coach found the right buttons to push. But that was an extremely pleasant match to work. If only they all could be like that.
At the 10pm meeting, they again discussed the duties of the 4th official. Match assignments were handed out for semifinals the following day and I didn’t expect anything, and wasn’t disappointed when I had a day to watch other matches. I was happy just to have gotten a middle during the tournament.
The final round matches are tomorrow and then time to go home. I’m planning to do a wrap-up of my observations as well as my suggestions for improving the tournament from a first-timer’s perspective. I’m hoping to have that posted on Thursday or Friday. Until then. . .
June 24th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Well I would say that one game made your tournament interesting…..I look forward to hearing the rest.
I am curious how that conversation goes with your 4th and coach on the send off. I work with a few guys that want every detail right then while others simply want to know if the coach should be gone or not, if I answer yes to that they step in and the coach is gone….
Was there extra paperwork for the send off above the normal?
June 24th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Alex> The pregame is important here. As is trusting your 4th. The general guidance we’ve been getting is to let the coaches vent within reason. So long as they say their piece and in a short time move back to coaching their team, all is fine and no worries. If they go beyond that, they are asked to please mellow out and reminded that their team needs them to remain focused on helping them. After that, the coach is told that he must stop his irresponsible behavior and to get back to coaching his team. The 4th has to use personality and persuasion to get the coach back in line. And if after telling the coach, he persists on attacking the game then he has to be dismissed.
As I mentioned, in my pregame for the match I instructed my 4th to use an “Ask, Tell, Gone” escalation. I also instructed her that if I needed to be called over, it wasn’t to discuss or debate anything - it was to remove the problem. Because if the problem had become too great for the 4th to handle, then the problem had to be removed. So in my case, I didn’t need the details and that it required my involvement told me whether the coach should be gone. I delegated and entrusted the bench areas to my 4th and so the details would take care of themselves without my wasting time on them. And I didn’t need to ask if the coach needed to be gone because we covered in my pregame what would happen if I needed to get involved in bench control.
In my case, I knew at halftime that both coaches had gotten their first “strike” by reaching the “ask” stage. So it wasn’t a total surprise to me that it had gone further. As soon as the coach had made his comments to the 4th personal in nature and made personal space an issue, it was clear that he had to go. But. . .I trusted my 4th to make sure it got serious enough before my involvement was required. And the pregame covered it from there.
Otherwise, no extra paperwork above a normal send-off.