Youth Soccer: Is Field 6 Cursed?

Field #6 is cursed at the Mead CUSA Cup Invitational in Beavercreek, OH. 

What is wrong with field #6 at the Ankeney soccer complex in Beavercreek. Was it built on an ancient indian burial ground? Something ugly always seems to happen on this field when I stand on the sidelines.

Flash Back

On April 20, 2010, my son played in what I think was the dirtiest game of soccer that I have ever seen. It was a U17 match that became more and more violent as the game progressed because the ref did not call any fouls. 

In the second half, one of our players took out a kid with a hard slide tackle. It was not malicious, but it most definitely a foul. No foul was called. A few minutes later, number 6 from the other team retaliated by taking out one of our players with a malicious foul. Our player did not even have the ball when he was leveled. No foul was called.

Both sets of parents voiced their opinions about the poor officiating. I have to say that the parents had a right to be upset. 

A few minutes later, number 6 flipped our best offensive player over his hip right near the corner flag that stands to the left of the goal by the row of trees. Our player fell and broke his wrist. The ref finally issued a yellow card. The parent of the kid who was injured was not satisfied with a yellow card. He thought that the foul deserved a red card and immediate ejection. The ref and the dad exchanged words. Then the dad decided to eject the ref. He chased after the ref for a beat down. The ref eluded  the dad by zig zagging through a row of trees and to his car. The sideline refs called the game a forfeit and we lost.

Last week

My daughter plays U13, so she plays on full size fields now, and her team was assigned to play on field 6. Before the game, my wife asked me if this was the same field that ugly game was played on years ago. I looked up a saw the row of trees that the ref used to escape the irate dad and concluded that it was.

There was a game in progress on the field. We watched two teams in our division play a very evenly matched game. Late in the game, a player from the team dressed in red, made a perfectly timed break to get behind the defense for a one on one breakaway goal. The sideline judge wrongly raised his flag to call offsides. The head ref called it off. I assume that he had decided that the player ran behind the defense after the long pass was already made which was the right call. An extremely large dad who looked like he never played a game of soccer in his life, screamed at the ref with a powerfully loud voice. He continued on and on, until the entire crowd went quiet when a girl fell awkwardly and broke her arm. It was an ugly compound fracture. Guess where this injury took place. You guess it, near the same corner flag where my son's teammate broke his wrist years before.

After they took the little girl away in a cart, the crowd gave the obligatory round of applause and the game resumed. As soon as the game started back up, the irate dad started in on the ref again. The ref ignored him for a while then issued the team a red card and threw the dad out. He picked up his chair and slowly made his way out as he threatened the ref over and over again.

At the conclusion of that game, our girls took the field knowing that they only needed a tie to win the pool and advance. The game was evenly contested with very few shots made on goal. Late in the first half, one of our bigger players, who falls down when the wind blows, got knocked down in the box. Our team was awarded a penalty kick. It was a terrible call. Our best player buried the ball in the back of the net for a 1-0 gift goal. 

The parents of the other team were boiling after the goal and they took out their frustrations on the ref with a relentless barrage of ugly remarks. The second half, neither team could get anything going so we held on to win the game 1-0. The PK goal turned out to be meaningless because a 0-0 tie would have knocked out the other team anyway, yet one of the dads kept giving the ref an earful after the game. He screamed, "Way to go ref, you determined the result instead of the girls. You are an incompetent #@%#@&"

I am not a confrontational person, but I could not contain myself. I tried to calm the dad and make the dad feel better by telling him that the goal did not matter because our team would have advanced with a 0-0 tie. 

Let's just say he did not appreciate my information and started barking at me. I ignored him, but one of our more confrontational dads who was sitting on a soccer chair in the shade behind me started chirping back at the dad. The irate dad could not see the other dad and thought I was bantering with him. He started coming toward me. I continued to ignore him, but the dad behind me kept chirping. The dad got within 20 yards of me and said, I am going to teach you a lesson tomorrow.

I said, "OK" I was not concerned because this moron still did not realize he is not coming back tomorrow. His daughter's team was eliminated. I did not remind him.

The Main Point

Don't play on field #6 at the Mead Cup without a policeman, your lawyer and a doctor close by. 

Youth Soccer: Horrible Egotistical Ref

It is so unfortunate when the outcome of a game is determined by questionable refs. It happened 3 times this weekend for my daughter's team. The refereeing in each game got progressively worse.

I am not one to complain about the refs, but I could not contain myself yesterday. I know that they are not professionals. I know that it is not easy to ref a game. I know that they take unnecessary abuse. Still, I needed to say something about the terrible refereeing at a tournament in Dayton, Ohio.

Game One:

Game one featured a disabled young man at center ref. I was happy to see this guy putting himself out there when some in his situation would shelter themselves away. I thought to myself, that no one was going to ridicule this young man. I was wrong. The head coach from the other team was riding him all game long. On one play, the right halfback from the opposing team kicked a long pass to a wide open right winger. The ball was kicked too hard and went out of bounds. The line judge and the ref called for our team to throw it in. The head coach of the other team screamed at the ref. He was explaining that it was their ball. I was shocked, as I was trying to figure out how he could think that at all. None of our players were near the passer nor near the winger to cause a deflection.  The ref made the mistake of approaching the opposing coach. They had a conversation and somehow the coach convinced the ref that it was their ball. The ref changed his call deep in our zone. This particular play did not impact the game, but other wishy washy no calls may have.

Game Two:

The line judge on the coaching side had a spring loaded arm. His flag kept going up non-stop. He called our team off sides 6 times in the first half. Three of the plays were legitimate offside, but three were not even close. An offensive player can move beyond the last defender after the ball is kicked. Our forwards know this and aggressively time their runs to get behind the defender when the ball is kicked. The line judge clearly did not know the rules because he called our girls off as soon as they gained position even though the ball was already in the air. The most painful offsides call came late in a 0-0 game. Our right halfback made a great run with the ball and connected on a hard shot. The goalie made a good save, but deflected it to our striker who buried it into then back of the net. The line judge called the striker offsides. She was not offsides at any point as she tailed the play and she was not involved in the play until the deflection. A player is only offsides if they are a material part of the play. We should have won 1-0.

Game Three:

I had to step in a coach because the head coach was as sick as can be the entire night before the game. As the girls were warming up the game, the ref approached me and introduced himself with a slight Irish accent. I was thrilled to hear the accent thinking that we finally have a ref who knows the game. He was fairly short man had a red beard and a reddish-greyish hair pulled back in a small ponytail. I thought to myself that he looked a bit like a leprechaun. This is going to be good luck.

The game started and within the first two minutes, the ref called a foul on our team, then another and another. In a closely contended game of two very equal teams who have played each other many, many time, we had 5 fouls and the opposing team had none. I yelled out to the ref that the fouls were 5-0 to give him a gentle reminder that he needed to call the game evenly. There were no fouls for 10 minutes. Then foul number 6 came right outside the box. When the whistle was blown, I thanked God, that he finally called one against the girl who was manhandling our player. I was wrong, he called the foul against our player. Our team formed a wall about 10 yards away, but the ref moved them back another 5 yards. He did not walk off the distance. He quickly blew the whistle and the ringer guest player from the other team buried the ball into the corner. It was 1-0. The ref was deciding the game.

Two minutes later, foul number 7 happened in the center of the field about 40 yards away. Again it was a questionable foul. We moved the defense up which forced the offense to move with us. The ringer guest player served up a high looping ball over the players and toward CC. CC had to made a quick decision. Run up and catch the ball in traffic before it bounced or wait on the line in front of a full size goal. She decided to run up a fraction too late. The ball bounced right in front of her and over her head. The score was 2-0. CC should have saved it, but again the ref was deciding the game.

Our girls did not give up. Our smallest player made a nice run into the box. She was met by the guest player, who throw her down like a rag doll. No foul. Our top scorer made a run 1v1 with the goalie, but before she could get a shot off she was tackled from behind. No yellow card, no foul, no penalty kick. "Play on" the ref said.

I was standing far from the girls on the bench talking with the other assistant coach when I made the comment that I think that the refs ponytail is a bit too tight. I only said that comment loud enough for my assistant to hear. I did not realize the line judge was listening in. He turned to me and said, "I think that your hat is too tight you f-ing prick." And he said it loud enough for the girls to hear it. The other assistant want crazy and yelled to the center ref to throw this bum out. He almost got a yellow card as I was trying to calm him down.

The final tally on fouls was 10-0. The final score was 3-0. The opposing team scored all three goals on penalty kick plays. This ref decided the game.

Two other things this egotistical ref did.

1) His whistle broke. So he stopped play and walked over to the side judge to get a replacement. Our assistant coach asked if he was going to add game time. The ref did not reply in words, but his actions said it all. He walked back into position at a snails pace. When he got to his position he waited a few seconds for dramatic effect then blew his new whistle.

2) At the end of the game, he gave a yellow card out to one of our players on a very questionable foul. He took about 2 minutes to book the player. He told the player that she was stupid for causing her team 2 minutes of time. He did not add any time onto the game.

The Main Point

I can deal with bad calls. I can deal with bad refs. I cannot deal with the inflated ego of a bias ref. It is a shame when the ref decides the outcome of a game played by teams that have worked so hard to prepare for a game.

We had 2 ties and a loss and did not advance. We would have advanced to the semi-finals even with the loss in the last game if the offsides goal counted in the second game.

Youth Soccer: Refs, Rules, Smart Players and Fools

One of my readers asked this question about the US vs Canada Women's Olympic soccer game.

"Just wondering if you would write a post on the debatable calls made by the ref in the Canada v US semi final? Being a ref myself I obviously don't want to hear her [the ref] bashed, but being a Canadian it was obviously very hard to watch. If you purposely avoided this iffy topic sorry, but I would appreciate your thoughts."

My daughter played her season opening tournament this past weekend. The first game was an 8-0 blowout. My daughter, the team's goalie, touched the ball once the entire game. The second game was a 4-0 win. Again, my daughter was not challenged. The third game was a different story. Every ball in this game was contested and both goalies were tested. The girls from both teams were working hard because the winner would advance to the championship bracket and the loser would go home.

Direct Kick Deflected Over the Cross Bar

My daughter made save after save including a save off a direct kick right outside the box. The questionable penalty was called at the top of the box on a 50/50 ball. Luckily, my daughter was able to knock the ball over the cross bar.

Late in the second half with our team winning 1-0, the opposing center midfielder ripped a low hard shot from outside the box. One of our defenders put her hands up to defend herself and knocked the ball down. The defenders hand was extended, but the ref did not make the handball call.

I whispered to the head coach, "If our defender were Canadian, the ref would have blown the whistle." The coach gave me a knowing smile.

I watched every US women's soccer game with great interest and national pride until the ref called the Canadian goalie for holding the ball too long. It is a penalty that is rarely called. At the time, I thought it was a ridiculous call, especially at that point in the game because the call determined the outcome. (The resulting indirect penalty kick led to the somewhat questionable hand ball call in the box. That handball penalty led to the game tying PK goal by Abby Wambach.) The Canadian women would have won that game and advanced to the gold medal game against  Japan, if the ref had kept her whistle silent.

I hate when a ref's call determines the outcome of a game, but many non-calls determine outcomes too. The bottomline is that refs need to enforce the rules to protect the players and the integrity of the game.

The ref in the US vs Canada semi-final London 2012 Olympic games made a call at the end of the game that was technically correct, but rarely enforced. The rule in question governs how long a goalie can hold the ball. According to the official rules, goalies can hold the ball up to 6 seconds before they need distribute it. Many goalies, including Hope Solo, hold the ball for way longer than 6 seconds. The Canadian goalie held the ball over 16 seconds several times before in the game and according to reports had been warned by the sideline ref and the head ref. She foolishly risked a penalty to shave off a few precious seconds.

What the goalie did not know was that Abby Wambach was in the refs ear. Everytime the goalie made a save late in the game, she would go close to the ref and count out - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - etc. seconds to highlight how long the goalie held the ball. Amy Wambach was smart. She knew the ref could not blantanlty ignore the infraction because it's a rule for a reason.

The Main Point

Good soccer players play with their head. Abby Wambach uses her head to score goals better than anyone I have ever seen play the game. What I didn't know about Abby Wambach is that she uses her brains too. The Canadian goalie did not use hers and cost her team a chance for a gold medal.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed watching the US Women get World Cup revenge over the team from Japan, the calls against Canada, although technically correct, tarnished the gold medals of the US women for me.

Suggested Rule Change

If the 6 second rule is going to be enforced it should be enforced all the time not arbitrarily. In basketball a player has 10 seconds to get the ball across the half court line. This rule is in place so a player cannot delay the game in the back court. When a player has the ball in the back court,  the ref moves his / her hand back and forth to count seconds. Once the ref gets to 10 seconds the ball is turned over to the other team. Soccer should adopt this same approach. The ref should use a visual clue and call it at 6 seconds every time the goalie holds the ball too long. And I think that the other team should get the ball on a throw in instead of a indirect kick from outside the 18. That would keep the game moving and fair.

Finally, a good lesson for young players - Know the rules and use them to your advantage.

Side Note: Many youth soccer teams are instructed to kick the ball as far out of bounds as possible when the team is winning the game and time is running out. There are no ball boys / girls so lots of time is consumed when this happens.

Youth Basketball: Refs Influence Game Outcome

Should refs feel sorry for teams being out played and as a result call a game differently then they normally would?

We have all seen it many times before. One team is dominating another team, so the refs limit the fouls against the inferior team. At the same time, the refs call a tight game against the superior team. I believe that the refs do this to keep the score reasonable and to keep the lopsided game moving.

This past weekend, my daughter's team breezed through a tournament and advanced to the finals as the number one seed .

As the number one seed, we played our semi-final game from 3p to 4p against the 4th seed. We won 38-25. The 2nd and 3rd seeded teams played from 4p to 5p. The 3rd seeded team advanced. Our team beat the 3rd seeded team by 10 points during pool play.

The gym was exceedingly hot when our team took the court with confidence at 5p. The other team fresh off their win looked over-heated and tired. Our team took advantage and scored immediately after the tip off. We scored 4 more baskets in the first 3 minutes of play to take a 10 - 0 lead. The head coach of the other team called timeout and berated his girls. It was embarrassing.

When the game resumed, one of the best players on the other team was assessed her 3rd foul and the hot headed coach stepped on to the court and yelled at the ref who made the call. The coach was assessed a technical for walking on the court. Our point guard buried the 2 technical foul shots and our team took a commanding 12-0 lead. The neutered coach retreated to the sidelines and contained his emotions for the rest of the game.

The game played on and our team continued to dominate possession. Our team was passing and cutting and beating the other team's man to man defense with ease, but layups and short jumpers were not falling. Still it was very obvious that our team was in control.

At the half way point of the first half, the other team called time. We were still winning 12-0, but should have been winning 24-0. After the time out, our opponent emerged and started employing a tightly packed zone. Our team kept trying to pass and cut in the narrow lanes, but met lots of resistance and tough physical play. The refs, however, were not making any calls. After several obvious fouls were ignored, our coach called timeout and talked to the ref. The ref told our coach to relax because we were obviously going to win the game.

Well, our team kept missing shots and got frustrated. Our frustration lead to fouls and the other team buried foul shot after foul shot. Our team was still dominating each possession, but soon it was a 1 point game.

With 2 minutes left in the game, our team went into a slow down mode. We passed the ball back and forth. Every now and then the other team would foul us trying to make a steal. We were not even close to the bonus, so after each foul we had to throw the ball in.

Sure enough while we were trying to runout the clock, one of the passes my daughter made was intercepted and lead to the winning basket with 16 seconds left on the clock. My little girl was devastated.

The Main Point

In principle, I do not have a problem refs controlling the speed and score of lopsided games, but not in a championship game between two obviously strong teams. We lost the game because our team went completely cold. The other team won the game because they never gave up. Unfortunately, the refs played a major role in the outcome and that is just not right.

Youth Basketball: Flagrant Foul on Social Media?

This blog covers the good, the bad and the ugly of youth sports and this week the ugly raised its head yet again.

A dad of a high school player took a video camera to a HS game to capture highlights of his kid. He also captured the attention of the tiny TriCityHerald and 5 million and counting YouTube viewers.

As you will see, the game was physical, very physical. The dad with the video camera took exception to the refereeing in the game and wanted to make a point that the league needed better officiating. So after the game, he edited the video to showcase six tough fouls committed by two senior players on the Connell (Wash.) High School team. He then uploaded the video onto Facebook and YouTube. 

The Main Point

I am calling an unintentional foul on the dad with the video. He wanted Yakima, Washington to take notice, but the world was watching. This dad failed to realize was the power of social media.

I'm also calling one foul on the ref (not 5 fouls) and a foul on HS basketball rules.

Finally, I am calling a flagrant foul on the coach of the team for not controlling his players by taking them out of the game himself. Basketball is a rough and tough game but it is not a street fight. (I added this after reading the comment by Clarence Gains II below - Clarence was so right on this account)

Here is my take on the situation.

1) I think that the most difficult officiating job in youth sports is basketball refereeing. There are fouls on almost every single possession in basketball. The ref can't call every foul or the game will last too long. Conversely, the ref can't let every foul go or the game will get out of hand. So every play provides a coach or a fan the opportunity to complain. And because the ref is so close to the fans and coaches they hear an earful all game long (As you can hear in the video). I good ref just ignores the chatter and calls a balanced game.

2) I can only watch the edited clip, but from what I can see, the refs only made one judgement mistake. Remember the refs do not have the luxury of watching the play over and over again. They should have called a flagrant personal foul on the foul called #5. The player, who committed that foul, should have been ejected from the game and suspended for the next game as dictated by High School Rules. Otherwise the refs called all the fouls. Yes the other fouls highlighted in the video were tough fouls, but did they rise to the level of automatic ejection and one game suspension? I'm not so sure.

NFHS (U.S. high school) rules define a flagrant foul as a personal or technical foul that is extreme or severe. A flagrant personal / intentional foul involves excessive or severe contact during a live ball. A flagrant technical foul involves unsportsmanlike conduct that is extreme in nature, or excessive or severe contact during a dead ball. Fighting is also considered a flagrant technical foul.

The penalty for a flagrant foul in high school is the immediate ejection of the offending player, plus two free throws and a throw-in for the opposing team. The ejected player is also suspended during the next game played by his or her team.

In the NBA there are two levels of flagrant fouls - level one and level two. NBA referees have discretion in determining which level to call. The penalty for a flagrant 1 foul is two free throws and the fouled team gets the ball back. A flagrant 2 call also results in two free throws and the ball back, but the   offending player is immediately ejection too. A player who receives two flagrant 1 level fouls in a single game is also ejected upon the second foul. Just like in soccer where two yellow cards equals a red card.

I think that HS should have a similar rule to the NBA. This would give the refs another tool in their toolbox to control the game. A tough foul could result in a steep penalty (2 free throws and the ball back which could result in a 4 point swing) without ejecting / suspending a player who might have been playing out of control or overly aggressive but not mean spiritedly. Let's face it, a ref is going to hesitate making a judgement call that would result in an automatic ejection and suspension.

3) The dad inadvertently demonized two players he does not know. Were the offending players mean spirited or simply football players who are not agile enough to play at the speed required for High School basketball? I do not know and neither does the dad with the video camera. One thing I do know is that you have to think long and hard about what you post online because once it is out there, it is out there.

CORRECTION

The video shooter and editor was an uncle not a dad. And apparently according to this newspaper account, the uncle distributed the video to ESPN and other news sources via twitter.

Youth Basketball: Bending the Rules

At the end of the last regular season game, I asked the ref and the other coach to bend the rules to give two of our girls a chance to score this season.

Last night, my daughter's CYO team played their last regular season game. The game was meaningless in the sense that the outcome would not change the team's seeding in the big end of season tournament for the Cincinnati City Championship.

It was a game that they should've won, but didn't. Winning was not the goal last night.

Goal One

Get the players, who played limited minutes in the finals of the last tournament (our last game), lots of playing time. These players will likely see limited action in the end of year city championship tournament that starts next week.

Goal Two

Get players some experience in positions they do not usually play. 

Goal Three

Get the two players who have not yet scored this season some points.

The game plan was to limit the team's three star players to 1 quarter of playing time each.

With the experienced players on the bench, the game turned into a blowout, but the less experienced girls were having fun and gaining valuable experience.

Midway through the last quarter, we realized that Goal Two was conflicting with Goal Three because the inexperienced point guards were not able to get the ball in the hands of the two girls who have not yet scored.

We decided to put my daughter, CC, in the game to penetrate into the lane and dish the ball to the two players who have not yet scored. CC was happy to do it. CC did a great job distributing the ball, but shot after shot missed the mark.

On one drive in the paint, CC was fouled. It was the 7th foul of the half and she was awarded a 1 and 1. We asked the ref if we could have another player shoot the shots. The ref looked at us strangely and said, "no." I asked the ref if we could ask the other coach for permission. The ref gave us a minute to inquire. Our team was losing by 12 or more, so the opposing coach, who realized what we were doing, was happy to oblige. So one of the girls who had not yet scored this season approached the line and shot two soft shots. Unfortunately both bounced off the rim.

CC triple teamed delivers a perfect bounce pass.

My daughter kept working her magic and distributing the ball to no avail. Then with 5 second left on the clock, my daughter got a rebound, darted up the court and launched a half court shot. The shot did not reach its target because my daughter was fouled hard. CC was awarded foul shots. Again, I went to the ref and asked if another player could take the shots. He allowed it.

The floor was cleared of all players because time had expired while my daughter was getting knocked to the floor. The other player who had not scored all season approached the line and put up a shot. The ball hit the back of the rim, then the front of the rim and then went through the hoop. A smile emerged from her face and the knowing crowd erupted with a thunderous roar.

The Main Point

I hate losing. It was tough to sit there and watch us lose a game we should have won. At the end of the game, however, I realized we kind of won. We met our goals (well almost). And that felt better than winning.

Youth Sports: Gambling

This website covers the good, the bad and the ugly of youth sports. It doesn't get any uglier than the criminal element gambling on youth sports, paying pee wee players to perform or throw a game and the intimidation of those who don't.

ESPN Outside the Lines did a 7 month investigation of gambling on youth football in South Florida. Check it out.




The Main Point

Yelling at refs, conspiring against coaches, players or coaches cheating during a game, parents or coaches encouraging violence on the field, confidence killing coaches, parents drinking excessively at youth sports games, etc. are all ugly elements of youth sports that I have witnessed. Gambling, drug money and intimidation takes the ugliness to another level. I was shocked by the story at first, but I am not sure why. The ugliness I see is from middle to upper class people who typically have strong family units and quality education. The families depicted in this ESPN OTL story do not have it as easy.

Youth Sports: Refs and Umps Have Tough Jobs

I am not sure why anyone would want to be a youth basketball referee.

My daughter had a 5th grade basketball game today. There were 4 fouls called in a very physical first half. Both coaches were on the refs for not calling fouls. In the second half, the refs called 25 fouls. Both coaches complained and the ref almost ejected a fan from the gym.

My son had a game today. In the first half, the 7th grade boys were playing a tough and physical game, but the refs did not call any fouls. The fans were all over the refs. The coaches did not mind because they were calling a consistent game on both sides of the court. In the second half, the game started getting out of hand, so the refs started calling fouls on every play. The fans and the coaches complained vigorously.

The Main Point

I think that the most difficult officiating job in youth sports is basketball refereeing. Let's face it. There are fouls on every single possession in basketball. The ref can't call every foul or the game will last too long. Conversely, the ref can't let every foul go or the game will get out of hand. Every play provides a coach or a fan the opportunity to complain. And because the ref is so close to the fans and coaches they hear an earful all game long. I good ref just ignores the chatter and calls a balanced game.

I believe that baseball umpires have the next toughest job again because they are close to the action. It is easier than basketball because the game is less physical and there are typically fewer calls that are questioned in each game compared to basketball. Unless of course the home plate ump has an erratic strike zone.

What sport do you think is the toughest to officiate?

Youth Basketball: Bad Call for a Good Reason

Sometimes I wonder why I write this blog, but on Saturday I was reminded why by a beautiful event. A good ref made a terrible call for a good reason.

My daughter, CC, had a basketball game today. The championship game of a CYO tournament for 4th grade girls. We got to the gym early hoping to warm up, but the 5th grade girls semi-final game was in progress. I looked up at the scoreboard to see how much time was remaining. Ugh, I thought to myself. The game was only in the 2nd quarter. A bright orange team from a parish about 10 miles away was playing the 5th grade team from my daughter's school. The orange team was winning decisively.

My daughter spotted some friends and took off. With nothing better to do, I watched the action on the court and I am glad I did.

You could tell that the orange team was well coached because the ball was moving around so effectively. Every girl knew where to go and knew almost instinctively where help was if needed. It was so fluid. It so was beautiful.

There was one girl on the court donned in orange and thick glasses who was following the beautiful flow of the game, but she was a few steps behind everyone else. She always knew where to go, but she was just a little slow to get there. Her teammates would always patiently wait for her to get into position. They would pass the ball to her on occasion even though they probably knew that there might be better options. The girl donned in orange with think glasses was behind, but not left behind.

As the game progressed, the black team from my daughter's school chipped away at the lead and made a game of it. Still the coach of the orange team did not make any adjustments to the line-up late in the game. He trusted his talented guards to control the final few minutes and protect the lead. He trusted the girl in orange with think glasses to get into the right position.

With 7 seconds on the clock, the orange team held a 7 point lead. The speedy guard from the white team had the ball and was cutting across the court from left to right. The girl with the think glasses was cutting across the court right to left. She was concentrating so hard on getting into position that she did not know where the ball was. The two girls collided.

It was an obvious foul on the girl in orange. She was not trying to defend, she was just desperately trying to get to her position as coached which she eventually did and stood there as if nothing had happened.

The ref reached for his whistle. He hesitated. He looked up at the clock. 3 seconds left. He looked at the foul situation. Few fouls had been called so neither team was in the bonus. He then blew the whistle.

He turned toward the scoring table and yelled, "Foul on white #10" It was a bad call for a good reason. Although it was not a shooting foul, he put the girl in orange on the line to shoot free throws.

No one complained. Six girls jogged to the basket and lined up white, orange, white on either side of the lane. Two girls in orange and one in white took their positions at the top of the key. The girl with the thick glasses wearing bright orange stood dutifully in her defensive position on the wing. The position she was so desperately trying to get to when the play started.

The tall skinny ref with grey hair walked over to her and bent down. He said something to her. He handed her the ball and walked her to the line. The girl knew what to do and did not hesitate at all. The ball flew through the air on a beautiful arc with the school's Prayer for Athletes blue banner hanging in the background.

You could feel all nine girls on the court, the six or so girls on the both benches, the coaches from both teams, the two supposedly impartial refs and the one hundred plus fans praying for the ball to go in.

The ball bounced off the back of the rim.

A teammate rebounded the ball and gave it to the ref. The ref bounced it to the girl on the line. Again, without even a moment of hesitation, she launched the ball up toward the hoop. Again the ball had a beautiful arc, but again the ball bounced off the back of the rim. She was a little too close or a little too strong. A loud AHH came from the fans, the players, the coaches and the refs.

After the game, I wanted to shake the hand of this great ref. I approached him hand extended and told him that he made a great call. He smiled proudly. He told me how he hesitated in making the call. He told me that he was concerned that someone would get mad. Then he told me that his daughter has down syndrome too.

My daughter's team took the court.


My daughter's team played in the finals of a CYO tournament against the other team from her school. CC's team dominated the game and outshot the other team 34 to 12, but the ball would not fall in the hoop for her team. The game turned out to be a defensive low scoring game. The lead changed back and forth all game.

With 7 seconds on the clock, a play was called to free up CC for a final winning shot. Her best friend got her the ball and CC did a nice cross over dribble move to the left. A pick worked perfectly to free CC up for a shot. She pulled up for a 10 foot jumper.

The ball went on a beautiful arc toward the hoop. The blue Athletes Prayer banner hung in the background.


Let competition make me strong, but never hostile.


The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced up.

If I know victory allow me to be happy. 


The ball hit the front of the rim and bounced up.


If I am denied keep me from envy.


The ball fell to the side and CC's team lost.

The Main Point

The second line of the Prayer for Athletes says, Help me learn something that matters once the game is over. I did thanks to a ref who made a bad call for a good reason. The prayer concludes with If through athletics I set an example, let it be a good one, Amen.

 Ref, sir, you set a good example. 

Youth Soccer: Respect the Ref Video

Crazy Youth Parent Series

This is a great video produced by TheFA.com called Ray Calls for Respect which clearly and effectively illustrates just how ridiculous crazy youth parents can behave on the sidelines. Verbal attacks toward the referees and their own kids can be so damaging to the kids involved and the game as a whole. It is a powerful video that all parents regardless of the sport their kids play should watch.

The Main Point

According to the video, it is getting harder and harder to find people willing to referee. I can believe this because I would not want to subject myself to the barrage of insults and complaints from crazy youth sports parents. The video correctly states that there would be no games if there are no referees. 

The other point that the video makes is that players improve by learning from their own mistakes. I have seen it in all sports where parents unrelentingly find faults with their kids performance and do not hesitate to make it public by yelling from the sidelines. Kids of parents like this eventually play tentatively. When this happens a kid starts thinking too much about what to do and not do that they do not react instinctively. A slight moment of hesitation can be the difference between success and failure. The best line in the video: How is your son suppose to learn if he's not allowed to make mistakes.

Youth Basketball: Refereeing is not Easy

I learned that basketball refereeing is not easy.

My daughter had a scrimmage basketball game last Saturday. The dad of one of my daughter's teammates is a certified ref and offered to officiate the game. He is used to refereeing with another ref so he approached the stands and asked the other dads to take the other referee spot. I was volunteered by the other dads because I was wearing a referee like white golf shirt with black horizontal pinstripes. I could not argue. Heck, I had been refereeing games from the stands for years, how hard can it be.

I found that it is much easier to referee from the stands.

The first challenge is to be in the right position. The referees movements are almost choreographed. They move fluidly together. I never paid much attention to the refs movements before. In the beginning of the game, the real ref was constantly telling me were to be. I found myself paying more attention to where I was positioned and not paying close attention to the action on the court. Eventually the positioning around the court became intuitive and when it did I was better able to concentrated on the game.

The second challenge was calling fouls. I could see them, but I had trouble blowing the whistle in a timely manner. I see the foul. I think to myself what a hack job that was. The play continues. I realize I am the ref. I reach for the whistle then decide that it is too late to call the foul. The ref told me that that is a common issue with new refs.

The third challenge was not rooting for my daughter. I was running the court with the teams and watching my daughter do her thing as the point guard. Several times I had to restrain myself from yelling instructions to her like "watch your back" or "Rachel is open" etc.

Game 115

My daughter's team won the game 15 to 9. CC had 4 points and 3 assists. Most importantly, my refereeing had no impact on the game result.

The Main Point

Refereeing from the stands is easy. Refereeing on the court is not.