Athens Referee Academy

To perform at one's best is a personal goal, to extend that goal to a loose community of individuals is another matter.

If you enjoy this post check out--http://howtosoccerblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/referee-training-seminar-dayton-ohio.html

From List to Organization

What is the backbone of any successful sport league?  The organizing body, the players, and the coaches all have an essential place, but one lesson repeated in the game has been that good officials, referees, are the backbone of any soccer league, and any league is only as strong as its referees.

With that in mind, at the close of the 2012 youth and adult seasons, Athens Soccer Academy looked at the barriers to officiating professionalism and how those distracted from the 2012 local seasons.  In mid-winter Athens Soccer Academy began work on a new entity called Athens Referee Association.  By March ARA was born.

On March 26, 2013 Athens Referee Association met for the Inaugural Spring Leagues gathering.  From five in the evening till just before nine, we covered in brief detail the seventeen Laws of the Game, our Referee Season Calendar, and What To Expect From Each League.  Here is a record of how we did it.

Athens Referee Association

In seasons past we have met each other on the field, but never in this type of classroom setting.  In here we build a different kind of trust, a trust that can serve us out on the field.

Athens Referee Association seeks to:

1) Identify a local referee community
2) Provide league-relevant training to officials
3) Provide Liability Coverage for ARA assigned games
4) Model Professional Standards of Officiating and Officials' Training.

2013 Concussion Prevention

Ohio HB 143 of the 129th General Assembly mandates concussion protocols for coaches and officials working in youth sports.  These referees are briefed on what they will need to do before they arrive to referee games. I will need to see that they have passed the on-line course and gotten a certificate.  I give them the link:

http://www.nfhslearn.com/.

The Leagues We Serve

Athens Referee Association-- referees must be a minimum age of fourteen-- now assigns officials to the Athens City Recreational Soccer League.  This  league offers us more nights/week to referee and a great training ground for our new referees.

Two other new leagues will use our association to schedule officials: Greater Athens Soccer Association League and Ohio University Women's Club.  See below for more details.

Referees, it seems, are in vogue in some circles.

Sunday

Adult Cup League
--Adult Coed Rec and Competitive combination

-- $15 per game/per ref for a two-person crew and $18 per game if a ref has to call a game solo.

Sundays from 4/7 - 6/2

Monday through Thursday

Athens City Recreation League
--5th/6th Grade // 3rd/4th Grade
--$15 per official, per game.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Game times are 5:15pm and 6:15pm

Saturday

Southeastern Ohio Soccer League
--Under 8, Under 9, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14

--Refs $20/$25/$30 per game/U8 U10 one person crew/game.
$25/$30 per game/per ref two-person crew U12 and U14.
 9AM-5pm on Saturdays from 4/6 - 5/11

Greater Athens Soccer Association
--7th-9th Grade

--$15 per game/per ref for a two-person crew and $18 per game/ ref solo

 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturdays from 4/13 - 5/11

Ohio University Women's Club
--Spring Scrimmages

--$70 per per game

No games scheduled yet.

The Match

When certifying officials as an Instructor for the Federation, I follow the protocols and procedures.  However, none of these local leagues is affiliated, so I create the curriculum and instruction procedures for ARA.  I take a risk for this first clinic and use a technique I theorized about, but have never tried.

Since these referees all have some experience, I can take this risk.  I am trying to gain a heightened interest level from them.  All but one knows what a standard clinic setting is like.  I want to blow their expectations open.

Tonight we watch the first sixty minutes of a real game I have on VHS format.  We find the seventeen Laws and discuss them as they happen in a real game on the screen.

I want to stir their emotion.  I want engagement, excitement.  I want some of what I have experienced on a personal level from a few choice clinics from the Federation.  When they leave tonight, they should want to go to the next level.

In preparation for this inaugural clinic, I search my collection of VHS tapes, and pull out a Major League Soccer Classic.

Columbus Crew V Kansas City Wizards, June 6, 1996

This game will suit our purposes because it shows a good range of Laws and has several episodes of misconduct.  This game also will show how the Laws evolve.  There are a few episodes on the tape I expect will startle some of these more experienced referees, because they have been taught to respond differently to the modern game.  

Yet by far the best part of this game for my purposes is the style of the center official, Raul Dominguez.  For better or worse he seems to have the style these referees in front of me want to emulate, and I want to show the benefits and pitfalls of such a style as displayed in this game.

I keep a notepad that has the match-minute of each episode we will discuss, and a remote control to start, rewind, and restart the tape.  The game will happen on the screen in bursts, and we will interject with commentary and readings from the Laws and Questions and Answers. 

We also punctuate the screen discussion interludes by asking occasional quiz-like questions on some of the Laws.  I tell the guys from the start that this clinic is a first run, and there are areas I will need to improve.  I soon discover that one of these areas is the quiz questions, they  need to be selected with better discretion; but overall it seems the format works on this night for these referees. 

The game tape begins and in the third minute there is a blatant foul by an attacker. Dominguez goes in and uses a quiet word.  A nearby defender begins to interject, but Dominguez uses the public admonition.

Here we are in the third minute and already hitting the level of game management most appropriate to our highest level local leagues. This is what I hope will keep these guys engaged for nearly four hours.

We view applications of these laws and follow with readings and discussion: 1, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17, 4, 12, 10, 13, 8, 11, 9, 7, and 14.  We then cover Laws 2 and 3 right from the book.

In minute thirty, who steps into the screen as the fourth official?  None other than an anonymous Ohio referee from Dayton.  We stop the tape, and I hand them each a copy of Official Sports, the catalog for professional equipment.  On the cover is a referee from the northern part of our state.

I then say, 

"Ohio referees have been a part of this league from day one, and they are a part of this league today.  Are you willing to work?  Do you want to perform your best and see where those skills can take you?  Because there is a future in this avocation for young, athletic types like you."

We conclude the clinic by taking a look at our calendar so I have their availability.  They need to do some work to finish with the registration, and I will assign them games.  

The Make-up

Make-up Clinic

Friday, April 5

5-9pm

Athens City Recreation Center

RSVP to tad@athenssocceracademy.com

The Model

I have been a Grade 6 Referee since 2006. If these guys are to believe me that we can advance in this game, I need to stop resting on my past accomplishments.  ARA has moved me to reach for the next level.


A few days after the clinic I request two assessments for upgrade in The U.S.S.F. system.

		Submitted to DDA.	04/07/2013 10:00 AM	Upgrade	Assistant Referee
		Submitted to DDA.	05/19/2013 10:00 AM	Upgrade	Referee

I locate an inclined path a few strides out my door.

Ref Run--Total

Running the Beast



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