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Please be aware that this could be a challenging weekend for refs.
Apparently lots of games that were rained out a few weeks ago have been rescheduled for Saturday and Sunday on top of an already busy weekend.
I've had a few assigners tell me that there are more games this weekend than they have ever seen, and have had a really hard time filling slots.
So you're going to end up with a lot of refs that are either working games that they may not really be qualified for, or are working more games in a row than they should.
If you've never volunteered to be a club linesman, you may be needed.
Personally, I'm doing four game sets tomorrow and Sunday, when I normally prefer 2. And my son is doing games he probably shouldn't be doing until he's a year or two older.
I'm not a big fan of "center circle refs", but I may be one by my third or fourth game.
So be aware of the situation, and, perhaps, try to be a little kinder and more understanding than you may normally be.
Apparently lots of games that were rained out a few weeks ago have been rescheduled for Saturday and Sunday on top of an already busy weekend.
I've had a few assigners tell me that there are more games this weekend than they have ever seen, and have had a really hard time filling slots.
So you're going to end up with a lot of refs that are either working games that they may not really be qualified for, or are working more games in a row than they should.
If you've never volunteered to be a club linesman, you may be needed.
Personally, I'm doing four game sets tomorrow and Sunday, when I normally prefer 2. And my son is doing games he probably shouldn't be doing until he's a year or two older.
I'm not a big fan of "center circle refs", but I may be one by my third or fourth game.
So be aware of the situation, and, perhaps, try to be a little kinder and more understanding than you may normally be.
retiredref wrote:The summer cert classes will give him a 2024 badge. IFAB updates for 23/24 came out in April and will be incorporated in summer certification classes. If he certifies over the summer he will effectively be getting a 1.5 year certification as he will be able to start using his 2024 badge this fall.
Referee Registration Suspends in May and Resumes In July
New Referee certification for 2023 ended in May. New Referee certification for 2024 begins in early July. Click the "Become a Referee" tab.
Returning Referee recertification for 2023 ended in May. Referee recertification for 2024 begins in July. Click on the "Instruction" tab. Select the appropriate Path.
Referees who complete their certification or recertification process between July 2023 through May 2024 will receive a 2024 referee badge and may begin officiating immediately.
Posted June 2, 2023
Wow, starting early this year...nice!
Reffing goes by calendar year, not by season.
So if he gets certified now, he'll be able to ref this year, and then he'll have to re-certify in late fall/winter for 2024.
So if he gets certified now, he'll be able to ref this year, and then he'll have to re-certify in late fall/winter for 2024.
Size5Balls wrote:SoccerRef wrote:clt-dad wrote:
Now a club might not want to chase getting into MLS-Next that because its not profitable to have one highly selective boys team in a handful of age groups vs. boys and girls, national and regional, and all of the years experience ENCL brings to table.
MLS Next now has two tiers.
They just started the National Academy league, so most of the big clubs will now have two highly selective teams.
I would think most kids who don't make the MLS Next team would try for an ECNL club, before settling on their National Academy League. Not sure how competitive that league will actually be. If MLS could ever merge in the NWSL, then offer both boy and girls soccer, they would grow even faster. Women's pro soccer is a long time dumpster fire here though, so they might not want that risk.
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that works out.
Some of the clubs with MLS Next teams have very good 2nd teams as well, but I can also think of a few offhand where there's a huge gulf between their MLS Next teams and their 2nd team.
So I agree that ECNL will probably be better overall right now, but if you have a kid with his heart set on MLS Next, the NAL may be a more direct path.
Achilles does most of their practices as St Johns College High School, so if you live near there, that would be hard to pass up.
Bethesda and PPA practice all over the place.
All three play games in similar locations.
You may have missed tryouts already, but that's not a big deal...check their websites and email the age group coordinator, and they'll let you kid train with a team and see where they might belong.
As a U10, you'll be fine with any of these teams...they all have good training. If your kid is good enough to be on a top team (he probably won't start there) the conversation gets a little more complicated.
I've found PPA coaches to be a little more nurturing and friendlier in general, but Bethesda and Achillies have higher ceiling teams...both have MLS Next.
Sal, who runs Achillies, is really cutthroat, which is great for some kids, and terrible for others. But again, you probably won't start on one of the top teams he'd be coaching.
Bethesda and PPA practice all over the place.
All three play games in similar locations.
You may have missed tryouts already, but that's not a big deal...check their websites and email the age group coordinator, and they'll let you kid train with a team and see where they might belong.
As a U10, you'll be fine with any of these teams...they all have good training. If your kid is good enough to be on a top team (he probably won't start there) the conversation gets a little more complicated.
I've found PPA coaches to be a little more nurturing and friendlier in general, but Bethesda and Achillies have higher ceiling teams...both have MLS Next.
Sal, who runs Achillies, is really cutthroat, which is great for some kids, and terrible for others. But again, you probably won't start on one of the top teams he'd be coaching.
clt-dad wrote:
Now a club might not want to chase getting into MLS-Next that because its not profitable to have one highly selective boys team in a handful of age groups vs. boys and girls, national and regional, and all of the years experience ENCL brings to table.
MLS Next now has two tiers.
They just started the National Academy league, so most of the big clubs will now have two highly selective teams.
realdmv wrote:mdsoccerdad wrote:Size5Balls wrote:Shoutout to the Bethesda showcase event organizers for only having 2 refs per match at our games this past weekend. Made for awful officiating. I really hope we don't enter this tournament again.
Oh my- end of the world!!!
Theres a massive ref shortage.
Probably due to people like you.
bethesda well el-cheapo. they had no field marshals to input the scores, they didn't use the new QR code system that other tournaments use and they didn't incentivize the refs to come out. They didn't care that they only had two refs per game. So when you pay $1500 for a tournament, you would expect them to have 3 refs.
And besides, I don't want to ref at Muldoon's any more than you want to play there.
What exactly hurts?
The older I got, the more arch support I needed, and finally got orthotic inserts which helped tremendously.
The older I got, the more arch support I needed, and finally got orthotic inserts which helped tremendously.
SuburbanDad wrote:Also, if you’re not a ref, be nice to the refs. $30-50 isn’t nearly enough for the amount of abuse refs have been getting locally/lately. If you get a chance, thank your kid’s ref after the game, win or lose (especially if it’s clear they’re trying to kids safe and learn their sport). Imagine if you treated other folks doing their jobs like you do refs “Those aren’t even close to enough sprinkles in my Blizzard!! What’re you, blind?!?!”
Saying as a dad, not a ref
While I agree that a “good job ref” while you’re walking away is nice, with all the ref abuse we have to deal with I DO NOT want any parents approaching me or my crew after a game, even with good intentions.
Teach your kids to thank the refs after the game instead.
Ossalt wrote:What is this? Worth it or just a money grab? Anyone have actual experience?
https://laligaselect.com/
Despite the fact that I know nothing about it, have never heard of it, and have no firsthand knowledge of it, I am still abundantly confident to say that yes, it’s a money grab.
As far as I can tell though, you still can’t do a simple search to find a team, and finding a schedule still takes way too many clicks.
First of all, this isn't something that comes into play very often, and is normally not even noticed unless VAR comes into play.
Second, it's not the refs you have to worry about, it's the coaches and parents, who probably never understood the guidance anyway, will hear something about it while watching an EPL game, and will suddenly become "experts".
With that said, this new guidance is a good thing.
The old guidance was really convoluted, and ended up rewarding players in an offside position.
Second, it's not the refs you have to worry about, it's the coaches and parents, who probably never understood the guidance anyway, will hear something about it while watching an EPL game, and will suddenly become "experts".
With that said, this new guidance is a good thing.
The old guidance was really convoluted, and ended up rewarding players in an offside position.
Wishiwasatthebeach wrote:PPA is a great option. The 2 times a week will give you time to play your other sports. My ds is a u little and has played both clubs this year. PPA puts up a much better fight than Potomac in regards to competition. They seem well coached (referring to the top teams) At the older ages, their teams seem to do very well and compete in top brackets. Potomac has alot of teams and players but don't seem to play well compared with other clubs.
Potomac seems far more uneven than other programs.
They have some age groups that are excellent, and some that are really sub-par.
This happens to all programs to some extent, but not as much as it seems to happen to them.
Size5Balls wrote:Yes, I can't wait for the U9 games to also be televised. So exciting. #MLSNextfanboy #ECNLsux #Mykidbetterthanyourkid
I love that more and more games are being streamed, at every level.
I know my parents would love to watch their grandkids play more often, and streaming allows them to do that.
But yes, the MLS Next vs ECNL snark was totally unnecessary.
Anonymous wrote:PP here, and I would add I really have no feel for what should be a card and what shouldn't. My gut tells me negligent and dangerous play, yellow. Intentional & egregious dangerous play = red.
I didn't feel this was even negligent or overtly dangerous. GK made a legitimate play to try and poke the ball away and failed, resulting in contact with offensive player. Foul, no harm.
The basic rubric that they teach concerning whether it should be a normal foul, a YC or a RC is to ask if the foul was careless, reckless, or did it use excessive force.
As to your play specifically, the foul denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity, which used to be and automatic RC, but now can be a YC in specific circumstances.