Ref Base – Mentor Evaluations

You stated that you had been working on following the diagonal and better understanding how to keep the ball and your AR in view. I thought you did well with your depth and lateral movement in this game. You also had a number of good sprints during the match. Keep working on reading and anticipating play. There were a few instances where you got caught significantly behind play. You also had some particularly very good moments, including in the 7' when there was a high lobbing ball towards the goal. You properly continued your run into the penalty area to view the pending challenge between the opponents. You also had at least two moments where you correctly signaled for advantage. Loudly verbalizing "ADVANTAGE!" will further help everyone understand your call in these moments.

Your ARs in this match were making signals without looking at you, leading to at least one moment in the 13' when you and AR2 showed conflicting directions. Cover this in your pre-game that you expect ARs to make eye contact with you and lock direction before signaling. You correctly issued two cautions in this match - one for dissent and the other for a reckless foul. However, you were patting your various shirt and short pockets trying to find your yellow card. We discussed various ways referees typically carry their cards - the main point being, standardize where you carry your cards and you can quickly find them when you need them.

This was a good match for learning with the main story being bench management. The Westside coach and assistant coach were loudly nipping at you throughout the first half. Early in the second half (34') this rose to a level that required intervention, and I was glad to see you approach the bench. You spent time listening to the coaches and eventually told them that you, "were doing the best that I can." While this was an ok response, it potentially left room to validate further dissent. Alternately, we discussed quickly letting the coach know that you heard his concerns, you didn't see it that way, the call has been made, and further yelling at you is inappropriate and needs to stop. Follow the ask, tell, remove model, and while you can issue further verbal warnings, don't hesitate to issue a caution or a sendoff (for second caution) as justified by the Laws of the Game if dissent continues.

There were a number of moments (kickoff, hard fouls, calling for players' attention) where your whistle tone and volume were flat. As discussed, you are using a pealess Fox40 whistle but blowing it only with your breath. Instead, use your tongue while blowing to properly hit pitch and volume. This is a common difficulty when starting to use a pealess whistle. Practice this (your garage can be a good place) before your next match and you'll quickly start to get the hang of it. While not an official signal, I liked your "no-call" motion by waving both your arms. We discussed at halftime that bending your elbows while making this motion can appear indecisive. Yelling "no foul!", "play!", or similar while doing this can add further effectiveness. You worked on this during the second half, and it looked really good.

Your correct uniform helped add to your credibility.

Eric - This was a competitive match (1-0) with some different elements to manage. You handled it well. I also appreciate your positive attitude and openness to suggestions and feedback. Maintaining this attitude will help keep you on a path of improvement. Thank you again for being a referee.

Eric performed well in this game and appeared to show improvement from his previous mentor reports, particularly related to lateral positioning. His attitude is positive and open to suggestions and feedback. While he has some things to work on, he is good to referee games at this level.