Wait for the REFSIX end-of-half alarm to go off
I'm using REFSIX with my Apple watch for pretty much every game now. But I did make a mistake today that I don't plan on making again...
I centered two games today (B14 & B12).
Today was mostly a good warmup for tomorrow. I’ve got 1 State Cup Quarter Final and 2 USSF Adult Amateur games. All 3 are ARs but all very high quality!
I’ll talk more about those games early next week. Here’s what I’m taking away from today’s games.
Set up and trust REFSIX
When I set up my games in the R6 app, I fill out almost all the settings for every game.
That includes half lengths, of course.
That means an alarm and vibration will go off on my Apple watch when each half comes to a close.
The thing is I had 2 back-to-back games today. The first was 35 minutes halves and the second was 30.
I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this…
At the end of the second half of the first game, I blew my whistle for full time when I glanced at my watch and saw it had reached 30 minutes.
But one coach told me pretty quickly they still had 5 minutes to play.
I double checked with my AR who confirmed this for me. Then I told everybody it was my bad for blowing for time prematurely and that we would play the remaining 5 minutes.
It wasn’t a big deal but it was a little embarassing.
Takeaway: I’m already good about setting up my R6 options before games but need to just remember each half ends with a vibrating wrist.
It’s also important not to rely too much on technology and always know every detail about each game I’m working. I should have been more on top of the 35- vs 30-minute halves.
Better to make this mistake in a meaningless U14 game than in one that was more important. Lesson learned.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙