Spring Soccer at Heartland Soccer, April 2018 (April matches grow May Referees):

Another couple of weekends for Spring soccer have demonstrated the degree of commitment and passion of the players and fans of Heartland.  Despite the cold and the rain and the wind, the players were on the field giving their best efforts to execute the game plans of their coaches.  The fans were bundled up, drinking their hot drinks and making the noise that brings the matches to life.  And, the Referees and Assistant Referees were trying to ignore the weather and enforce the Laws of the Game.  Soccer is alive and well at Heartland.

Let me share a story from last Sunday morning.  Because Heartland plays on turf there was no concern about the condition of the fields (raining yes, but not a problem).  As the teams were warming up, the Referee crew was going through a short pre-game meeting.  The Center for this match has done close to 100 Heartland matches in the past year. However, this was going to be her first Center on the big fields.   This Referee has worked as an Assistant Referee for many big field games, but this was the first time with the whistle on the big fields.  One of the AR's has been working on the big fields for several years.  The other AR was doing their first big field match also.

I asked the Center if she was ready for the game.  She told me that even though she had Centered many matches on the small sided fields, she was a little nervous about going on the big field.  She understood fouls, was comfortable with her responsibilities, but knew the older players would move faster than the Under 12's she had been doing.  Because it was her first time and because she wanted to do well, she also knew she would have to run more than she had ever run before to cover the entire field.  The crew was ready, and the match started.  A mentor (a State Referee Emeritus) was watching to give her feedback on how she and her Assistants would respond to the new challenge.

The important point here is that the teams had an experienced Referee crew (Heartland's commitment is to develop the Referees so they are prepared for the next level of competition), and they were still nervous because they wanted to do their best job for the players, coaches and for the fans.  I am pleased to report that our Referee did a good job (as reported by the coaches and the players).  It doesn't always happen that way, but we are working to make this result the norm for your matches.  After the game we asked this Referee to provide us with a self-evaluation of how she thought she did. Here are some of the self-evaluation comments she shared:

 

Did I give my maximum effort throughout the game?

 

"I felt like I did my best to keep game under control"

Was I professional in my approach to this game?

"No favors or appearance of favor to one team or another; used my judgement"

Three things I can take away from this match:

"More comfortable, relaxed after half".

 "Kept good position to keep game in front of me".

 "Did not let outside pressure influence the outcome of the game".

 "Addressing fouls/hard tackles".

I wanted to share how your Referees evaluate their performances so they can get better.  As a post script from this match, a parent from one of the teams came to us after the match with concerns about a decision by the Referee (on a charging foul against their son).  It was a hard charge and their son was knocked to the ground.  The foul was called but the parents thought there should have been a card.  They said they would advise their player to not take that any more - if you get charged, charge back.

The Referee and the parent focused on the same match incident.  They both asked themselves how to handle it better the next time.  This is the ecosystem at work creating a better Heartland Soccer Association.  What will you be watching at your next match?  Will it help everyone get better?  I have confidence the answer is yes!