Ref Base – Mentor Evaluations

See assigner notes.

No problems noted.

Looked good minus the badge. Stated he didn't have the Velcro backing.

Ethan, it was great to meet you and I enjoyed watching you referee. For your very first match you did a great job. You came dressed properly and made a very good first impression as a referee. You looked good like a referee should and you carried yourself very well. Your focus on the goal kick/corner kick restart and your quick decisiveness was very good. All goal kick and corner kick signals were accurate. Unfortunately, you didn’t get to signal an offside, but there was one possibility for an offside call in the second match and you correctly did not signal because the player was not offside. This was nicely done. You also did a good job of mirroring the substitution signal from the AR2 position when the referee was far from AR1. Nice job. At halftime In the third match, we discussed passing on information to our partner regarding team tendencies. The Artesia team kept a player way back on defense and this could be useful information for the other AR for the second half. It is important we share that kind of information. We discussed throughout the day the importance of keeping the flag in the hand that is easiest for the referee to see when you are moving up or down the touchline. The earlier you make this a habit the less you’ll have to think about it. Thank you for your participation in the pre-game activities of checking in the players and conducting the coin toss with the team captains. That was interesting, wasn’t it? As we discussed at the end of the day, I encourage you to focus on AR movement as you watch soccer on TV. Focus on AR movement from the top of the penalty area to the goal line: watch them follow the ball (active play) all the way to the goal line. Ethan, you had a good day and I’m impressed with how well you did, given that you’ve not played soccer. You have a good feeling for the game and I encourage you to keep up the great work.

I observed Ethan for three matches. For the first match he was AR1 and the second two as AR2. We had a long discussion about conducting the substitutions prior to the match. I emphasized that if the referee does not mention it in the pre-game discussion it is up to the AR to ask questions. I spent about 30 minutes chatting with Ethan prior to the match. He has never played soccer but his “feel” for the game was actually very good. He has a good concept of GK/CK situations and at the beginning of the day he was a little coverage. He did a good job maintaining focus on the 2nd last defender. He had no offside infractions to signal. Throughout the day we talked about keeping the flag field side. I didn’t realize until the third match that my instructions weren’t clear to him because he wasn’t changing. Finally got through to him with the concept of flag “always visible to the referee” and that was his “ah-hah” moment. All in all, a good day for Ethan. I think you can turn him loose. He will need fine-tuning regarding coverage down to the goal line, but I have high hopes for him. Oh, he wasn’t wearing a badge – he said he didn’t have the Velcro backing for it. For the 3:00 PM match the referee (didn’t get his name) was getting ready to start the match without the ARs. I had to wave at him just before he blew the whistle for the kick-off to remind him he had ARs. What the heck?