Ref Base – Video Evaluations

Just a couple of examples:

5:15 attack on goal… perhaps started moving a few moments late. Work on reading the play, and keeping an eye on players off the ball. There were two attackers who started making their run, and anticipating the next action based on their movement might have helped you move sooner and would have been closer to play inside the penalty area.

13:05 through ball… same thing, got caught behind play. Look for player clues to help you anticipate what they want to do with it. In this case you had an attacher making a run, and a teammate with the ball, hips facing up field, she wasn’t being immediately pressured, and (I assume since the camera is really far away) she had her head/eyes looking up field. All clues that you should be already running before that pass is made.

19:09 Goal scored by red. Good job keeping your eyes on players as they celebrated and ran back midfield, and not turning your back on them.

20:42 Almost got hit by ball. I saw this moment referenced in your notes. You’re not in a terrible position initially, but at 20:39 when number 26 is able to intercept the clearance, I’d get out of there. She is already showing with her body position and direction her hips are facing, that she likely headed in your direction, either by passing or dribbling into that space that you are occupying. She is under low pressure, so you have some time to adjust your position without risking missing contact. You don’t appear on camera yet, but once you do, you can see the direction you are moving… I think that’s the right direction to move, just much much quicker… get out of there. Once the pass is made and the other white player takes possession of the ball, you stopped and turned around the other direction. This is what got you in the way… and you notice you stopped right in the passing lane of her other teammate right behind you, and a lot of space behind her. That left the white attacker with the only option to try to play ball into space behind the defense… which was right through you.

General recommendation: watch players off the ball, and watch body position of player with the ball. There will be a lot of clues that should tell you when to get moving. Hopefully, getting a better read on players will help you anticipate as opposed to react.

I do appreciate your willingness to hustle to get back into position or catch up with play. Anticipating will help you actually run less.

Not always easy to tell from the camera angle, but generally decisions looked correct, and were accepted by the teams.

You singled out two situations in your game notes, that I comment on below:
22:07 Possible foul, push in the back. After watching it a couple times, I would probably lean towards calling this. Yeah, the contact is minimal, but it is to the back. And consider this: what if the push to the back caused the red player to gain possession of the ball and then past the defender heading towards goal? Would you feel different? I understand your thought about not wanting to discourage physical play, but we don’t want to encourage playing through the back of the opponent either. I think this a foul, and probably one worth calling. But then communicate with the players “Hey, I know that wasn’t that bad, but it was through her back, and that’s why I didn’t like it”. Players can accept that explanation.

40:16 Possible foul. I don’t see a foul here, but camera angle isn’t great. Body language from players showed they weren’t expecting anything.

I didn't have any issues with your signals... but you are right, we tend to evaluate oursleves harsher... but part of that is you know what your state of mind is when in the moment, and if it felt a bit "lazy" as you put it, it's definitly something to consider and adjust accordingly.

I have a couple mechanics things to comment on... not sure where else to put them, so I will comment here below:

13:40 Handball call against white. Avoid touching the ball to move the location of the free kick if possible. It just looks cleaner. I’m not sure I would have bothered moving the ball in this situation, since it didn’t seem there was much of a difference between where the player had it and where you wanted it. But that’s not a big deal. I would say that if you want the ball in a different location, run in and be where you want the ball to be placed, and then have them move it.

15:13 Wall placement on free kick. I understand what you were doing, and I would say that if this were closer to goal, and there was a real possibility of a legit shot on goal, how you stepped in and made sure you got your full 10 yards would be perfect. In this situation, with the ball so far away from goal, you could probably get away with just pointing to an approximate 10 yards from a distance, and moving the wall back with your voice. Might have sped up the restart a bit. Not that you did anything wrong here, just maybe a bit more formal than was necessary for this situation, and forced you to do a lot more unnecessary running. And notice, as soon as you backed them up, the wall disappeared anyway as they figured out it was pointless.

I liked your self evaluation, and sounds like you were able to get the concerns addressed and things moving quickly.

Game looked good and referee was appropriate for the game / level. A few things to clean up on mechanics, but no concerns over game managment today.

No issues

Overall, I thought you did a nice job on this game, and decisions were very appropriate for the level of match. A few things I commented on to help you clean up some of the mechanics and make everything just look more professional, but I did not have any concerns over how you managed this match.

20:42 Almost got hit by ball. I saw this moment referenced in your notes. You’re not in a terrible position initially, but at 20:39 when number 26 is able to intercept the clearance, I’d get out of there. She is already showing with her body position and direction her hips are facing, that she likely headed in your direction, either by passing or dribbling into that space that you are occupying. She is under low pressure, so you have some time to adjust your position without risking missing contact. You don’t appear on camera yet, but once you do, you can see the direction you are moving… I think that’s the right direction to move, just much much quicker… get out of there. Once the pass is made and the other white player takes possession of the ball, you stopped and turned around the other direction. This is what got you in the way… and you notice you stopped right in the passing lane of her other teammate right behind you, and a lot of space behind her. That left the white attacker with the only option to try to play ball into space behind the defense… which was right through you.

My email is jdvxc75@gmail.com
Read through my comments, and if you would like to meet up virtually to discuss any of my comments, don't hesitate. I am happy to talk through any parts of your match that you would like.