Notes from State Final clinic
I attended a clinic for all referees working the State Finals and these are some things I found noteworthy...
Yep, it’s true! I’ve been assigned 2x State Final games tomorrow. I’ll be AR for both the B13 and G14 games.
Very excited for both. I’ve been waiting to work higher-pressure games with more on the line and I’ve been given the opportunity. I’m so, so thankful.
Let’s do this.
They invited all the State Final referees to a clinic last night just to do some final preparation for the matches…
My takeaways:
Taunting was seen a bit more the further the tournament went on so if/when we see it, we need to cut it out immediately.
Know where video equipment is because it usually records audio as well. Be careful what you say and where you say it.
If the game goes to penalties, the players on the field must remain within boundary lines. But use common sense when hot and players need water.
When recording penalties, use a system like O/X, _/X. Don’t use check/X because things can get hard to read after writing something at the end of 120 minutes.
These games are not the time to try something new or experiment. Keep it simple and don’t try anything special. This doesn’t mean don’t take appropriate risks.
#1 rule: have fun!
I have 5 pages of notes but I’m not going to write down every bullet point here. I’ve already posted here about plenty of what we talked about. These points stood out to me as new information or just general reminders.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙