My 4th-tier Men's US Soccer AR assignment
My 4th-tier Men's US Soccer AR assignment
A huge goal/no-goal decision, 6 yellow & 1 red, dealing with fast players and much more.
A lot has happened since I was offered my first 2x 4th Official spots in a 4th-tier US Soccer match a few weeks ago.
The first game got rained out. All 4 officials and both teams actually showed up to the field but nobody had told any of us it had been closed a couple hours before kickoff. It was wack but it happens.
The second game saw me upgraded to AR2!
That second game was 2 afternoons ago.
Here’s what I’m keeping with me moving forward!
1. Proper soccer is insanely fun and rewarding to referee
Players were using proper offside traps. Timing their runs well. Playing good possession. Tackling properly.
Youth soccer is more unpredictable and even at a high level, doesn’t flow as well as high level adults playing.
While this game wasn’t the highest level, it was much closer to the football I watch on TV and what I played at my highest level.
It was a blast!
Takeaway: work as many high-level adult games as possible.
2. Goal/no-goal decision are essential to get right
I had one moment where an attacker on my half was played through with a ball in the air.
They tried to toe-poke/chip the ball past the goalkeeper who ended up getting a good piece of it. Regardless, the ball continued to trickle towards the goal, albeit more slowly.
When the goalkeeper made contact with the ball, I made the mistake of slowing down my sprint and starting to stutter-step in case I had to change directions.
The last defender made an acrobatic bicycle kick to clear the ball off the goal line.
The problem was I wasn’t in the right position (on or very close to the goal line). I think I was closer to the penalty spot, meaning I had a good but not great angle to see whether or not the ball had gone over the line.
There were shouts for me to give the goal but when I waved it off with my non-flag hand (not sure if I’m supposed to do this, it was a knee-jerk reaction) I didn’t get anybody continuing to question the call. At least a good indicator.
I’m 75% sure I got the call right. Obviously not good enough but it was a good learning moment.
The center and I discussed this at half time. He knew I wasn’t in the right position but wasn’t made about it; we used it at a learning moment and I was extremely helpful so I do it right next time. Even in the second half, I found myself continuing my sprints all the way to the goal line, even if it was just to call a simple goal kick.
Takeaway: don’t stop my sprint as AR (and center in many cases) as long as the ball continues to move towards the goal line.
3. Slow, patient whistle has many advantages
The center for the game was a Regional referee.
That means he’s no longer a new referee, but an advanced, experienced and serious one. I learned a lot from watching him out in the middle.
He mentioned at one point that he has a slow whistle. This just means he opts to wait a bit longer to whistle a foul just to make sure there’s no advantage to be played.
But you don’t want to whistle too late and lose your conviction on the game or trust of the players in your confidence to make calls.
It was to his advantage a few times in the game. The timing of his whistles and quick explanations afterwards were effective. I’ll be keeping that in mind moving forward.
Takeaway: don’t rush my whistle as the center. But don’t wait too long either. Slow the game down in my head and have patient conviction.
4. “What did you get from that red card?”
In the second half, the coach of the losing team (the game ended 4-0) was cautioned and then sent off a few seconds later for dissent.
I was AR2 on the opposite sideline and dealing with a combative player while this was all happening so I didn’t even know it had happened until after the game since we had no comms.
As we call came off the pitch after the game and we were debriefing, the 4th asked this questions to the center and they discussed it.
Did he get any game management benefits from the red card?
Could he have avoided it altogether by shutting it down from the center circle?
Did he really have to stop the game to have a conversation with the coach?
Will this decision help cool the temperature of the players and game?
Will I get any match management benefits from this?
Usually in these matters, there’s not one definitive right answer. It’s an exercise to see what other more optimal alternatives could have been present.
Player cautions or sending offs are often more exact. They either deserve them or they don’t.
But with coaches, there’s a little more gray area. It makes more sense to think in these situations about what you’ll get from them.
Takeaway: every decision helps or hinders my game and player management. I need to always take this into account when making decisions, especially when they’re yellow or red.
5. Cheat with fast players
Players at this level are fast. No doubt about it.
They are, in fact, faster than me.
The 4th told me it’s OK to cheat with my line when it makes sense to get a bit ahead of the play to make sure I don’t fall behind too far on plays going forward quickly in my half.
Obviously I’ll take this one with a grain of salt. It’s OK to cheat now since I’m not currently as fast as I need to be.
But if I want to make it to the next level, I’ll have to find ways to cheat less and stay on the offside line as much as possible.
And there’s really only one way to do that…
Takeaway: Short term, cheat with my line as AR to make sure my positioning is good for pivotal calls.
6. I need to get faster
That means properly training sprints and continuing to keep my weight low!
This is not something I’m going to focus on too much right now. Here’s why…
I’m taking a couple months away from refereeing this summer when baby boy #2 gets here. So I don’t have much time between now and then to meaningfully improve my acceleration and sprinting abilities.
When I come back to work high school soccer in the fall, I’ll have been working and maintaining good fitness for ~1 year as a referee.
That will give me a good baseline to starting really working on my speed over the winter. That timing will lead well into my second year of football when I’ll hopefully be meaningfully observed by the people who need to see me to get me to the next level.
Takeaway: Long term, improve my acceleration and top speed. I’ll have some fitness goals for this winter. Activate Rocky training montage!
7. Regional is attainable
I left the game on a high.
Not just because I’d performed well as AR but because I was there experiencing the game of a Regional referee and I wasn’t intimidated or scared or nervous.
I left knowing I could have survived that match in the center.
Now obviously “surviving” is not what you want to be doing as a successful referee haha. But you have to start somewhere. First you survive, then you perform well and finally you thrive.
I’m confident right now that at my current pace, I’ll be able to thrive in these games in my second year as a referee. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to test that theory.
Takeaway: I can do this. I need to keep my high level of confidence but also be patient and let the process play out. I can push the envelope a bit but also let everything happen organically.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙