Columbus Soccer Ref

Well. . .here in Columbus, we have a late-Fall session of Buckeye Premier for the U15-U18s which runs until mid-December.  As you can imagine, it can get a bit chilly.  Today was no exception.  During the three U18B matches I did today, the high temp was about 35.  Most of the time, it wasn’t bad - so long as you were moving.  I started with two matches as ARs and they were nothing special.  My middle was the last game of the day and I felt it was my best middle in quite a long time.  I worked hard on getting wide and for the most part, I did pretty well with that.  But this match reinforced for me the things I most need to work on before doing adult-league matches - getting wide sooner as the play develops.  Of course, this means covering more of the field and requires the fitness to do that.  So fitness and getting wider sooner go hand-in-hand.    Some background. . .over the last two years, I’ve been formally assessed many times - by assessors from both Columbus and Dayton.  Almost every one would tell me that I needed to get wider (and usually deeper).  I mean that’s great and all, but they would never tell me why or what it would do for me.   Today, a helpful Grade 6 and an event in my match helped the lightbulb go on.  The Grade 6 was an AR for my middle today and is also an assessor, though he’s never assessed me formally.  One thing he mentioned is that by going wider sooner, you increase your peripherial vision and give yourself a better chace to see the AR’s flag as it goes up for offside decisions.  It sounds so easy and obvious, once you think about it.  When you get wide as soon as possible, you give yourself a wider view and can always pinch in toward the middle as needed - which is much easier than starting out too close to the middle and trying to get wide later.  But the big thing was an incident in my match that brought home the need to get wide - and why.  Here’s the scenario. . .at about 80 minutes, the ball is played into the penalty area and to the top of the goal area.   The Red goalkeeper goes down to make the save. . .while he does, the Blue attacker slides in.  The ball was loose and from my position, it appeared that both players were making a legitimate attempt to play the ball so I made no call.  The ball goes over the goal line for a goal kick.  During this time, the Red goalkeeper is complaining to the point of dissent - and is cautioned.  After the match ended, it occurred to me that I had no certainty whether the blue attacker went in cleanly or whether he had his cleats up or got the GK after the play.  This is because of my positioning on the play.  Here’s a diagram of what I mean - 

Notice the position where I was during the play.  From that vantage point, there was no way I could see what the Blue attacker was doing to the Red GK.  No way I could tell whether Blue attacker went in cleats-up. . .kicked him after the play. . .whatever.  He may have done nothing, but from my position there was no way to know.  Now. . .by getting wider and coming in if necssary it allows me to have a MUCH better view of the nature of the contact between Blue attacker and Red GK.  Had I been able to see the true nature of the play, it’s very possible the card may have gone to the Blue attacker instead of the Red GK - and it may well have been a different color. So. . .I finally learned why you want to get as wide as possible as soon as possible - because it puts you in position to have a MUCH better view of what’s going on.  It gives you a much better chance to see the first foul.  And the more you can correctly call the first foul, the less overall “heat” you should see in your match.  There’s a saying that says - “A Smart man learns from his mistakes, but a Wise man learns from others’ mistakes.”  So here’s a chance for my getting Smart to help you get Wise.