Dear Fellow Referees:

As we move into week # 5, I want to remind you that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  During this month referees are permitted to wear the pink referee shirt (example: http://soccer.scoresports.com/shop-by-position/referees/shirts/pro-elite-no-2025c.html).  Additionally, pink wristbands can be worn in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Players can wear items in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month as long as those item are safe for themselves and other players.

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Fellow Referees:

Again, thank for the awesome game coverage this past week.  I am hearing such great things about our coverage.  In addition, I am hearing great things from our mentors about our new class of referees.  I can’t express enough my thank you’s to you for making the JCYSL Referee Program a success…Keep up the good work!

Game Coverage for Week #3:

Let’s keep up our continued efforts in covering games.  We are doing so well and I would like to see it continue through the season.  Please remember that the online sign-up is very important for the mentoring program to be successful.  This way mentors and mentee can get together on Saturdays to continue the mentoring process.

Thank You:

Thank again to Bourget family for taking care of the tent, game cards, table, flags, and game book at the end of the day on Saturday.  It doesn’t happen very often that I am not there the entire day, but when it does I appreciate the extra time from you to take care of our gear.

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All:

I have good news. The referee equipment for new referees has arrived. There will be a bin at the referee tent that contains the equipment. Inside the bin will be a labeled bag containing your shirt, socks, coin, whistle, data wallet, and patch. Please remember that you need to provide shorts and a watch. In addition, the bin will contain extra score-pads for data wallets, extra sock, and a few extra shirts. Score-pads can be taken and kept. If you borrow a pair of socks or shirt, please take it home, wash it, and return it next week.

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Hello Fellow Referees!

The game book and sign-up is now open.  Please try to cover at least one this Saturday.  If you are covering more than one game, please pace yourself to avoid burnout.

New Referees:

If you have not signed up in the game scheduling system, please do so at https://ayso322.d4sportsreg.com/default.aspx.  You will select New Member on the right-side of page.  For those that have registered,  thank you!  Your referee gear (shirt, socks, cars, whistle, & coins) has been ordered.  I have been working the last two days to track it down.  I hope that it arrives by Saturday.  I am apologizing now if does not.  The AYSO Store is telling me the order has shipped, but cannot provide me a tracking number.  I will continue to track this down.  I am working to assign mentors.  I should have those ready by week 2.  Again, thank you for becoming an AYSO referee.  I will do everything possible to make your experience a positive one.

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Fellow Referees:

Thank You

I hope each of you is enjoying the summer and short break from covering games. I want to thank each of you for a wonderful spring season. I know there were some Saturdays were coverage was not so good and I appreciate each and every one of you for making the season successful. Additionally, I want to thank those that volunteered and covered games at the Antietam Cup. In my opinion it was the best Antietam Cup to date. JCYSL was represented well and we had numerous teams that placed in the tournament.

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Hello Fellow Referees:

I hope all you had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying the time away from the pitch.  However, the spring soccer is about a month away.  Our first games will kick-off on Saturday, March 31 at the Charles Town fields. More details come as the game schedule becomes available.

Training:
JCYSL will be offering the Intermediate Referee course to all BASIC Referees that are the age of 14 and older.  This class will be on Saturday, March 24.  It will be held at the Pierson Field House at Marcus Field.  Marcus Field is the football field behind Weis and Kohl’s.  The class will run from 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM.  Please contact me via e-mail by Wednesday, March 14 if you are interested in taking the class.  Passing the class will make you eligible to referee the U-12 division.

Spring Referee Meeting:
I am looking to have the spring referee meeting on Tuesday, March 27.  The meeting will run from 7:30 PM until 8:30 PM.  The location is TBD.  It will most like be at the Pierson Field House at Marcus Field.  I will be presenting the Annual Referee Update from the Section Conference.

Volunteers Needed:
I am still searching for an Assistant Regional Referee Administrator and Regional Director of Referee Instruction.  Please let me know if you are interested.  The Assistant Regional Referee Administrator would be groomed to become the Regional Referee Administrator.

Interesting Article:
Please take the time to read this article from a youth referee.  Many thank you’s to Dan Cogswell for passing this along.
http://marylandreferees.com/msr2/?page_id=2015

National Games:
AYSO has a National Games tournament every two years.  This year the tournament is in Knoxville, TN.  It would be great if our Region could send a few teams of referees to help with the tournament.  In 2010, I went to the National Games as a coach.  It is a great experience for all involved.  However, referee coverage seemed to lacking.  It was lacking to the point that I assistant refereed two matches until the referees arrived from other games.  Needless to say we can always use referees.  However, the experience of working with other referees from other Regions across the country is a great experience.  I am planning on going, but would love to have fellow referees from our Region make the 9 hour drive as well.  Please contact me if you are interested.  In addition, here is some more details about the National Games. http://www.ayso.org/events/national_games/national_games_referee_information.aspx.

Please keep an eye on your e-mail and the web site as information will be coming about the upcoming season, training, and meeting.

Matt Byers – Regional Referee Administrator
Advanced Referee
AYSO Region 322
Jefferson County Youth Soccer League
www.jcysl.org

Week 3 Recap
Again, thank you for covering games last week.  I have not collected the match cards.  Please e-mail me if there was any issues.

Referee Recognition
In this note I would like to recognize referee mentors.  This season’s mentors are Steve Kubik, Amy Davies, and David Brannan.  Referee mentoring is vital to retention of referees and the growth and success of the Region’s referee program.  Again thank you for contributing the success of JCYSL’s Regional Referee Program.

Helpful Tips
Did you know there is technical area (coach box)?  Even though the technical area is not marked, coaches and substitutes are required to be 1 yard of the touchline and can only go 10 yards on either side of the half-way line.  Coaches do not have to remain on their half.  However, if issues arise coaches can be restricted to their half.  Coaches should never be allowed to travel up and down the entire touchline.  Give me a shout if you have any questions.  I can normally demonstrate this better on a field.

Be cautious of calling matches for the crowd.  I refer to this is “ooh and awe” call.  Be sure there is a foul before making the call.  You will hear the “oohs and awes” when there is properly executed charge or tackle and one player ends up on the ground.  I know you are required to make a decision within a few seconds.  Take that extra second to make sure a foul did exist and that you are not reacting to the coaches or spectators.  If all is well, one thing you can say is “No Foul or Fair Play”.  Never say “Play On or Play” because that mean you are applying advantage clause.  For advantage to applied, meaning you witnessed a foul and you are letting play to continue.  More about advantage next week.  You will also hear “Hand Ball”.  First never correct the spectator because we all know the foul is handling.  A quick verbal tool is “Ball Played the Hand” or “Driven Ball”.  Driven ball means the ball was driven into the players hand either by a shot or hard kick.  Again if you have any questions, give me a shout.

Week 4
I will be at the fields all day.  If you are available at the beginning and end of the day, I could use your help in setting up the tent for the referee area.  We have a full match schedule this week.  Please try to cover a game or two.  In the afternoon, we have a visiting U-16 girls team as well as a U-19 match.  In the past week 4 and 5 become challenging for referees.  Coaches have now had four weeks with their players.  And spectators have been to 3 matches.  For some reason, they think this gives them the right to be more vocal towards referees.  It will not be tolerated.  If there are issues, get it noted on the match card or send me an e-mail.  Details of the issue are important.  If it is uncontrollable, stop the match and find me.  I have know problems leaving a match to take care of this.  Please remember to keep your cool and not be confrontational.  It will be tough, but you have to remember that you are the trained professional.  I have requested that board member be proactive in helping with unruly coaches and spectators.

Again, I thank you for volunteering with JCYSL.  You efforts make matches more enjoyable for all parties involved.

Play On!
Matt Byers – Regional Referee Administrator
Advanced Referee
AYSO Region 322
Jefferson County Youth Soccer League

Week 2 Recap:
Did you know that all games in the U-10, U-12, & U-16 division were covered by a least 1 referee?  This is awesome games coverage and I applaud everyone that covered games last week.  I hope we can keep the momentum rolling as we have a gooding thing going.

Referee Recognitions for Week 2:
I would like to recognize Bill Lukens and Brian Eddy.  Bill and Brian stayed over to cover the U-19 scrimmage because the U-19 game was cancelled.  Even though this was not required, I am sure it may the scrimmage feel more like a game.  As I was leaving, you could hear the players having a good time on the field.  Thank you Bill and Brian for going the extra mile.

Helpful Tips:
I have noticed during my walks through the park that there is a lot of flagging twirling with assistant referees.  Please remember that the flag should be still unless you are making a signal.  This is very important for youth and new referees.  Referee mechanics is very important and proper mechanics will help you “sell a call” when you need to.

Week 3:
We have busy week and game coverage is looking good.  We could use more coverage for the late morning and afternoon games.  Now for the bad news, I will not be onsite this weekend.  Work has brought me into a facility move project at the last minute.  It requires me to move an entire facilities network on Saturday.  I will drop of the game book and completed game card box.  Those items will be located in the Shed.  I am looking for a few volunteers to makes sure those items are visible on table Saturday.  In addition, those items need to make it back to the shed at the end of the day.  Please send me a note if you can help.

Play On!
Matt Byers – Regional Referee Administrator
Advanced Referee
AYSO Region 322
Jefferson County Youth Soccer League

Week 1 Recap:
Thank you to all the referees that covered games for opening day.  It was great to see returning and new referees covering so many games.  I thank you for providing excellent game reports.  Those matches had issues were forwarded to the Coach Administrator along with the reports praising the behavior of coaches, players, and spectators.

Special Recognitions:
First, I would like to recognize Will Craig.  Will is a new youth referee and it excited to cover games as well as play.  Will was covering a U-8 match and the time for the substitution break was running long.  Will proceeded to stop the match when he could and the break was awarded.  Now, for the good part.  What is the restart?  Will proceeded with a drop ball (correct) and explained the procedure to the players.  The unfortunate thing is the assistant coach proceeded to tell Will that drop balls should not be done in U-8 because they were dangerous.  Will informed the coach the drop balls are allowed in U-8 and it was the correct restart.  I thank Will for knowing the Laws, not getting upset when the coach was questioning his decision, and following procedure by noting it on the game card.  This coach is being dealt with as his behavior was not appropriate.

Secondly, and this came from a coach.
I just wanted to write about the referee of my son’s U10 game last Saturday.  In the midst of all of the mayhem related to the first game, handing out uniforms, assigning positions, etc., I did not catch his name.  Hopefully, you have a schedule that will allow you to figure out who it was. He had dark hair and a mustache.

In short, he was excellent.  He took the time, where appropriate, to explain to the boys why he had made certain rulings, and why he had not made others.  He demonstrated legal and illegal methods of blocking after confusion arose on the field.  He helped protect the new goalkeepers who were all running around trying to figure out how to play the position on the fly.  Several parents mentioned his kindness to the kids.  I really appreciated how he handled the game. Please thank him for me.

Who was this referee?  It was our Brian Palank.  Brian has been with AYSO for 27 years.  He is a National Referee and great mentor.

I hope to recognize referee each week.  We always strive to do our best and those efforts should not go unrecognized.

Week 2:
Please try to cover a game or two.  This will be a repeated message each week.  U-19 will play at 3:30 PM.  I will be unavailable to cover that game as my daughter plays at the same time.

For those that have an 8AM match, I am looking for some assistance in getting the referee tent up.  It is a nice place to take a break between games and drop off game cards.

When filling out a game card, please be sure to PRINT referee name(s) on the card.  I may need to chat with you if there is an issue during the match.

Please remember to avoid burn out by only covering 3 games and leave time to take break for water.  Take care of yourself while on the pitch.

Play On!
Matt Byers – Regional Referee Administrator
Advanced Referee
AYSO Region 322
Jefferson County Youth Soccer League