GPS Update.

Well in three weeks time and about 20 games ( I would say half AR’s) I have ran logged just over 89 miles with my Garmin 405.  The watch is deadly accurate which surprised the hell out of me.  I tend to forget to put on the HR monitor for some reason.  Probably because I don’t care about my HR in games like I do when I am just out for a run. 

Lets use last night as an example.  I only had one game 4A varsity boys match which went 3-1 so it was close enough.  First half I didn’t wear the HR monitor.  In 41 minutes of play I logged 2.66 miles in the center.  Second half I did wear the HR monitor and average 122 with a high of 160.  I logged 2.45 miles in the second half.  Not bad for a easy 5 miler…

Let me tell you this is a cool tool to have if your a data geek like me.  I have 2 AR’s on Wednesday and 2 more on Thursday (I guess it is my turn to step outside for both games) and then one center on Friday night.  I will update the stats from these games along with screen shots from the garmin software.

Bad night….

So I had a girls game last night at one of the local high private schools here in town that happens to be 4A.  (everything else in town is 5A with the other 4A schools being on the smaller towns around the area.  I have only work 5A games so far this year except for one 4A boys game which is a decent rivalry so it was a bang bang game and I had my hands full at different times. 

It was a odd game.  I will start with just saying it was not my “A” performance.  I guess it happens every now and then but I just never felt like I was in the grove the whole game.  The local team which is a private high school made up of mostly decent club players from the area.  The visiting team is from a small town about 45 miles away.  The home team wasn’t interested in playing at a fast pace and really wasn’t that interested in going in hard or even bumping and scraping a little.  They pulled out from that for the most part.  The visitors played a little out of control.  They really didn’t mean to hit someone but they did and I would call it.  They would bitch.  I quickly realized about 6 minutes into the game the score was already 2-0 for the home team and the foul count was 4-0 against the visitors.  The visitors were out matched and running around out of control.  I had probably 3 to 5 call ratio for the night when we were done and the score ended up 4-0 with the home team playing their bench in the second half. 

I just simply never felt consistent all night long.  The 4A players wanted a call every single bump in the game.  The past two nights before a 5A player only complained that I was stopping the game with my whistle.  I think I felt inconsistent all night just because of the complaining which is odd for me. 

Well I will working on coming back with a strong game on Saturday…I took two nights off in a row since I had been working almost every day for the last two weeks.  After all I need my son to remember who Daddy is….

First NCAA game…..

I got my first NCAA game a week ago this last Sunday.  I just haven’t had time to write since I went out of town last Thurs through Sun.  (You know when you leave town with two days off it makes the other three days at work more crazy and I had High School games each night, which will have to be another post…)

I have decided that the NCAA, NISOA and it’s schools would not like me writing about specific games by name but I will just touch on a few things about working at that level.  It was a Women’s Div. 1 game with two teams from different conferences (conference games tend to be a little more heated). 

The game was fast but not as fast as I would have thought it was going to be.  The only issue with the game was that they had put about 8 hours worth of water on the field the night before.  The field held up just fine but it was 95 degrees out with the humidity rolling off the grass.  I was soaked by halftime. 

For my first college game I had a good time and learned a little also.  1 thing-  Wear slacks to the game.  You might change in a very small bathroom but wear slacks.

New Toy

So as I mentioned in my last post my wife and I celebrate our anniversary and I got the new Garmin 405 forerunner as a gift.  I plan on using it as my second watch during games.  I used it already once in a high school game the other night were we were forced into running a two man system.  (that a story for another post soon to come but lets just say I hate a two man system).  Need less to say in the first blow out JV girls game I covered just under3 miles in the game with a HR high of 152 averaging 121.  In the varsity I hit my HR high 3 minutes into the game of 160 (very quick transition I remember with a long hard sprint, she was quicker then I gave her credit for).  I averaged 125 with a high of 138 in the second half (game was put away by then and with the action away from me.)  In this game I covered 3.85 miles.  I am interested in a true center.  My best guess is I would have cleared 5.5 miles as a true center in this same game. 

Well I will start posting this in the future with certain game reports but I think this watch is going to work out and hopefully be helpful in determining work rate and fitness level.

Sun valley

So i promised forever ago to post about my tournament in Sun Valley…So lets start with why I haven’t posted…..Well I have basically two weeks off this year from refereeing since now soccer is rolling right into basketball this fall and vise verse in the spring.  So I took my two weeks off.  I also took a little vacation with my wife to celebrate our 10 year anniversary…It was great but I am not sure about your work but mine is always crazy when ever I am trying to get vacation time and so I have been working like mad around my vacation time. 

Well lets start with the trip there.  6 of us meet at Dean’s house (Dean is a national referee here in Boise who has been the ref. crew leader for this tournament for the last 20 years but is passing it off this year). The 6 of us jumped in my SUV and head out.  Before we made it to the freeway I was crying I was laughing so hard at the jokes there were flying…..

We got there and hooked up with the 3 officials form the other side of the state for dinner and a quick meeting.  We discussed how this tournament was different then others with the players.  First off it is a “beer league adult tournament” as it was put me.  The players are going to have plenty of descent.  Feel free to give crap back to them but leave your cards in pocket unless it is for hard play on the field.  We planned on covering all games with 3 man crews, which meant all of us were going to have a lot of games.  We were put up in a condo by the tournament.  We got to the condo to see it was for sell.  2600 sft condo along the whitetail ski resort, asking price 1.6 million.  Let me know if your interested. 

Lets mention the crew for a minute. Robbie national candidate from Boise, who is taking over the lead position for the ref crew at this tournament from Dean moving forward.  Jim should be applying for national candidate this next year.  Mark national referee. Drew and Jason both 7’s moving to 6 this next year.  Chris a 7, and Ethan an 8 and more importantly only 18 (couldn’t drink with us) who saved us when we had a late cancel. 

The next morning we all went down to breakfast together where Robbie () broke out our schedule to us.  Yep I had 6 games day one.  4 AR’s and 2 centers. 

First game with about 10 minutes in I was told to pull my head out of my ass and watch the game by a goalkeeper.  typically this would have been an issue but not at this tournament.  I simply replied that if he could make a save we wouldn’t have to have this conversation….It shut him up quickly.  Each game there was more of this but all in good nature.  The last game of the day was what is called the “Beer Game”.  There were a few kegs of beer at the fields now and a big BBQ going on while the last game was going on.  Everyone from the tournament was there watching the game with beer in hand heckling and having fun.  This was actually my first game off for the day (11 hours after I started) but since I was rookie I was responsible for making sure fresh beers were there for the crew as soon as they stepped off the field at the end.  It was the end of a outstanding day.

That night we went out for a great steak dinner and a few drinks.  I was dehydrated so I naturally attempted to combat this with lots off beer.  it didn’t work out but I was still doing good.  Sunday morning I was sore but found out at breakfast I only had to cover 3 games including one of the two championships.  Well we got off the field about 4pm that afternoon and decided to head over to “Grumpys” for a burger before hitting the road.  Well the ladies host team was there and stood up and gave us a stand ovation as we walked in.  (How damn cool is that.)  Next thing we knew they had beers in front of all us to shotgun with them.  They were really cool and had nothing but praise for us.  I have never finished a weekend of refereeing feeling so damn good. 

What a good time…..

Heart Rate

So this weekend I am working probably 9+ games it sounds like and I plan  on looking like “The Watch Man”.  I typically wear two watches during games.  This weekend I plan on wearing my two watches and my Pulse Heart Rate Monitor.  I am wondering what my high will be and the average.  I wear this device all of the time while out on my runs.  I am guessing my HR will go up as I do more games. 

I will post the results on here next week along with my diet for the day and see how that effects my hr.

Refereeing and Beer!

Well this weekend I got the invite to travel along with a great group of officials to an adult tournament in Sun Valley Idaho.  The referee crew includes national referees and national canidates along with several state officials.  (What I am saying is the crew going all are at a high level which will be great, of course I am the rookie in the bunch)  There is several of us jumping in a car and making the 2.5 hour trip up there to have some fun.  My understanding is that Friday night is rather calm and collected because we have 8am games the next day.  BUT Saturday night after a long day of refereeing (I have been told to expect 6 games) the drinking begins and our only goal is to be a little less hung over then the players the next day…..

The elevation of the fields is right about 5,821 feet.  Uh that will have it’s effects I think around game 5. 

I can hardly wait….

Fitness test

Saturday I went through the NISOAfitness testing.  I decided a while back I would like to make the leap to NISOA and see how I can do.  There was a group of us that meet and jumped in a van to travel about 2 hours east to meet up with officials from the other side of the state at the middle point.  The high for the day was 94 which was a record high for the area which we were running at.

 We started the fitness test about 9:45 in the morning with the 12 minute test.  Basics of how it was administered- .25 mile track with every starting at the same point.  Just run laps for 12 minutes.  Your really want at least 6 laps or a mile and half.  I thought this would be easy enough but in the heat on a black track this turned out to be harder then I thought.  I ended up making it past the 6 lap point but hardly. 

Next up we ran two different sprints was a easy 50 yard sprint.  I pushed it hard on this one and put a decent time I felt.  The 2nd sprint was a 200 yard which was a little more difficult and to be honest I was not feeling good by this point.  I put up a great time but now I was worried as to what was to come and what I had left in the tank.  These two tests were added in there for a guy needing a fitness test for USSF I found out later and one of the two guys got hurt on the 200 and was not able to finish….

Next we ran The PRO-40 Test.  This test includes sprinting, side shuffling, backward peddling, and more sprinting.  Over all you covered 80 meters.  It is really a easy test I thought but and this is a big BUT for me I honestly thought I was about to loose my cookies just prior to this test.  Here is how it was described “The Pro-40 Test is run on a four-sided course, ten meters square. You are required to travel all four sides, using sprint, side-step, and back-peddle and side-step, then reverse direction back to the start.”  I put up one of the better times there out of the 15+ referees there that day but I honestly thought if I had tried a little harder I could have knocked 1.5 to 2 more seconds off of that time.

The last two tests were THE BRASILIAN AR 50-METER TEST and the THE 30-METER SHUTTLE.  The 30-meter shuttle is a lot harder then it sounds that stop andrestart is difficult.  On the first half of it your trying to decide what you save for the second half. 

Well it was all done and we headed inside of our 60 question test.  This test is not like USSF tests or even NASO. It didn’t focus on fouls nearly as much as game management such as clock stoppages, substitutions and uniform protocol.  I have never taken the NISOA before but I was glad I had seen plenty of college soccer in my time and been around it.

Needless to say I passed and now I am ready to do a few games this fall.  I am only on the reserve list since it is my first year but we were told to expect to be used a decent amount this up coming year.  I am really looking forward to it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part two- The evening…..

I came off of the U17 game a little tired and in need of water and more sun screen.  (This is a great time to remind all of you to put on the sun screen).  I was heading to work a U14 girls semi-final game as an AR.  I was working with two Boise officials who I had worked with before.  Let’s start with the other AR.  He and I have a good friendly relationship and enjoy giving each other a hard time.  He was wearing his LONG sleeve yellow and simply stated he didn’t care what color we were wearing but he was wearing his long sleeve since his arms were totally sun burnt.  Well the center was slide onto our game when the other center was a no show.  They asked me if I wanted the center spot or would I like to work with a newer official that could really use some time in the middle of the field with two good AR’s.  Hey I was tired and all for working as my schedule was already set up for.  Well this newer official only had a yellow short sleeve with the old strips.  I switched to the old strips short sleeve and the other AR stayed in his long sleeve looking silly. (Oh don’t worry, I told him several times he looked like a fool). 

This U14 girl’s game turned out to be the worst game of the year for me.  Both team not only couldn’t find the goal I am still confident they didn’t know there were goals…This turned out to not be the “super division”, which explained to me why they were willing to put a inexperienced center on the game.  The play was so low I struggled staying focused…One team from Seattle area and the other from Tacoma area.  Both were weak.  So needless to say the game ended regulation with the score being 0-0.  The only excitement was the center giving a yellow for a soft air collision with the keeper on a corner kick.  He waited at least 3-4 minutes to give the yellow, granted this whole time the medical staff was on the field and the parents were giving him hell.  At half we asked about it and he said he wouldn’t have given the card if the keeper had stayed in the game so that is why he waited……I asked did you see the collision? His response, “yeah I think so”…..I simply said “Cards have to be “I know it was this” and once that training staff is on the field get out of there and give your card.  Personally I wouldn’t have given a card they both were straight up in the air with the keeper stretched out above her head and the player just going up for the ball.  If anything the keeper came into the other player’s space for the ball.  We didn’t discuss the foul selection only just the confidence the image that was given with the time line on the yellow. 

Well we went on to two 10 minute overtime and a shootout.  The team that should have won the game did win the shootout to move on. 

Game #4

My U12 boys game started late on the same field.  My AR’s for this game were both very green.  I had them run the flip for me while we finished out the shootout from the previous game.  As they handed me the game card which I had passed to them for the coin flip they had forgot who had won and who was going which direction…..Of course they hadn’t written it down on the game card.  I was so damn tired that I didn’t even question this with them….It simply told me I was probably doing this game on my own….I blew my whistle to call the teams out and sure enough they walked to their spots with one team waiting for the ball to kick off….Go with the flow baby….

I handed out a yellow card 3 minutes into the game to a U12 boy….This was a personal record.  As the ball was in the air an offensive player who was standing next the keeper hip checked with a little extra forearm the keeper on his butt into the goal.  I blew the play dead and yellow carded him….He didn’t question it at all. 

These guys were rather aggressive for U12 the whole game.  One interesting observation in this game:  One team from Spokane had a player with only one arm.  This was the only player that I never saw get tugged hard or shoved a little.  He passed out his fair share of punishment to others but it was never returned….Guys would simply give him his space. 

Game ended up 3-0 with little excitement outside of the obnoxious coaches from the winning team.  They were hammering me with 5 minutes left up 3-0.  I put myself close enough to their bench so the head coach could hear me without many other hearing.  As we waited for a keeper to retrieve a long out of bounds ball I turned and explained, “You’re up 3-0, if you’re excited about coaching in championship now would be the time to quite your bench area.”  I didn’t hear another sound from them….

DONE for the weekend…No championship games because I have to actually work on Tuesday morning….It was a great tournament with great fields.  They had to beg US Club to provide water for us and we were dreaming if we thought we would get food.  I heard that San Bernardino one of the other west coast regioinal locations didn’t get any water and the temperature was over 100.  I would have walked I were there….

US Club Regionals My 2nd day

As I said in my last post I didnt have big plans on working this tournament but my schedule opened up and I was lucky enought to get some games.  I had two games on Saturday, no games on Sunday and 2 scheduled games on Monday.  Before I left the meeting Friday night I had been reassigned to a third game on Monday also at noon which meant a little vacation time (I have some extra vaction time now that I didn’t kill a week of it at ODP.)  The day looked like this 12- U15 Girls Center, 4- U14 Girls AR 5:30-U12 Boys Center. Not a bad day……

U15 Girls-  (Les Bois from Boise vs Crossfire from Seattle) This is two large highly competitive clubs.  Both of these teams have had their fair share of state championship games in their states.  In the pregame though both coaches made it sound like dumb mistakes the first day were keeping both teams from advancing and they were ready for the tournament to just end.  The game was very calm for the most part.  It ended up 1-1 with some great ball control.  I had two players taking pop shots at each other with elbows in the last minute and half.  I simply told both to knock it off and decided a card wouldn’t help the game at this point in the match, although I could have defended giving a card just as easy.  My AR gave me 2 peices of advice after the game.  1. I called a hand ball that he felt would have been a good no call.  He said he was told by an assesor that you never call a handball ever again you will get 90% of them correct….hmmm interesting concept I thought.  2. That I was running to hard.  I need to anticipate the play more and lay off the long runs to the corner.  I had two players that were banging each tme they went 1v1 and it typically ended up in the corner (my corner, not my AR’s) so I would pull myself deep on those runs.  Good advice though and something to store away in my head.

Well I got back to the tent with my game card and they need me to step in on a U17 boys AR1 spot at 2pm.  I would be working with a State referee from Utah and a State Referee from Idaho (who also is my high school scheduler).  This was Crossfire U17 boys from Seattle vs Eastside from Portland OR.  This game decided who would go to championship.  This alone brought out the college scouts.  There were at least 15 scouts sitting along the edges and in the corners.  Crossfire dominated the game with at least 70% possesion and 8-1 shot difference but they still lost 2-1.  The quote of the day came from the Crossfire coach whos bench I was infront of the whole time.  In his heavy english accent he says to a player on the bench…..”Life comes easy for you, if you came from a poor family you would understand that you need to work harder and be a better player on the field….”  Ahh the life of the rich club player…

Well I will follow up with the rest of the day which only got better in my next post but I do need to run for now.