The almighty 3-count, right vs wrong hand & being more injury-aware
I worked 2 big tournament semi-finals and a chippy adult amateur match. As always, lots of good learnings!
This weekend I worked:
1x adult amateur game (AR1 w/ no 4th)
1x G19 tournament semi final (center)
1x B19 tournament semi final (AR2)
1x B19 tournament group match (AR1)
I felt very confident this weekend. Not in the sense that I’m in control of everything. Just that I’m really starting to feel comfortable with my refereeing abilities and that I can trust them to perform well.
Here are my takeaways from all four games in one quick list…
1. Using the wrong hand
A few times over these games, I raised my flag for the ball going out of bounds or a foul with the wrong hand.
Typically, you want to raise your flag with the hand that’s the same direction you’re going to signal so give the referee a good idea of who committed the foul you’re calling.
Takeaway: this is a very fixable problem, unlike some! Be a little slower to raising my flag for a foul or out of bounds call and do so with hand of way I’ll be pointing.
2. The almighty 3-count
I was formally assessed in an adult amateur game a couple nights ago. I got mostly good feedback but was told I could be better tracking the 2LD during non-active periods (especially when the ball is in the other half).
That way if there’s a breakaway or change of possession, I’m 100% on the offside line already and not just close to it.
I was advised to do a regular 3-count to give myself a formal cadence to check the offside line. It's pretty much just a very quick glance back from play every 3 seconds or so to place the 2LD and adjust positioning.
This was immensely helpful for me. I used it regularly in my 2 AR games yesterday and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it helped me stay on the offside line 10-20% better.
It also just helped me generally focus better and not let my attention lapse.
Systems, for the win! ⚙️
Takeaway: officially add the 3-count to my refereeing arsenal. This can go alongside calling offside earlier in lower-level games.
3. Being more injury-aware
There were a couple moments in the G19 where I needed to do a little better keeping players safe.
There were 2 moments where players went down. Both were critical moments of the game during which I had to give 100% of my attention to very promising attacks and goal/no goal situations.
In both moments, it took me ~10 seconds to realize there was a player down.
Takeaway: 10 seconds is simply too long to realize a player has gone down with an injury. I either need to always give a quick glance after big players or make sure my ARs know during pre-game to help keep an eye out for injuries or late contact.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙