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lmeadski · #54 (**permalink**) Tue Feb 14, 2006, 08:27am

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan_ref

Quote:

Originally posted by lmeadski

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan_ref

Quote:

Originally posted by lmeadski

So shame on me for calling him stripes (was that truly disrespectful?) and getting lit up (true or false)? And, at what point would this community feel I needed to step up to protect my players' best interest and get into the ref's soup (In a side bar, I calmly approached him at the next dead ball, expressed my concern about the lack of calls with rough play, and he offers: I didn't see it, turns and walks away)?

After reading through the thread I'll add my $.02:

These 11 year old games are usually brutal - players, fans & coaches are generally out of control and the officials generally don't have enough experience to know how to handle it. As you've written your story here it sounds like too much was being let go. BUT...as others have said I think there's an entirely different side of this story waiting to be told by the officials. At some point if the game was truly getting too rough you should have just gone & quietly spoken to the other coach about it, and then tournament staff if the coach didn't agree to help calm things down. That option probably had much more potential for success than getting "into the ref's soup", whatever that means.

Agreed. In retrospect I think that would have worked better. I wasn't upset about the foul initially, calls will be missed. I was concerned that, at this level, with girls, the play was allowed to continue as our girl lay in a heap. Remember, the lead on the play (who was now the trail) looked back at this girl twice as play resumed. We were saying there was an injured player. Only after we got the whistle (team had since shot twice until we secured the rebound), and I saw the extent of the "no contact" on the girl's face and eye, did I question the official. I became more disappointed as the rough play continued. Funny thing is, the team was from a neighboring town. We had already worked out plans for a scrimmage in the coming weeks (which we intend to keep, their girls wouldn't try to purposely injure our girls). However, as many have said, at this age some of these games turn into brawls. I would expect an official to know that and call the game accordingly. My PRIMARY responsiblity that day, and at that moment, was to my players. Again, I wanted discussion on the irony of the situation and input how best to handle it in the future (also, wanted feedback on whether any of you would be offended being called "Stripes"). I am not looking for any validation for my actions.

[Edited by lmeadski on Feb 13th, 2006 at 04:41 PM]

You want irony? Try this...

You admit the best course of action would have been to talk to the opposing coach - the guy you're scheduling scrimmages with because they would never purposely hurt your players other than the odd bloody mouth or swollen eye - about the behavior of his players.

And still you want to somehow blame the officials because the other team was out of control in terms of your players getting injured...and if they were justified in T'ing you up.

I gotta admit, I don't get it.

By the way, I misread your prior thread. I would not have approached the coach alone to discuss HER players actions. I would have approached her to discuss cleaning up play with the officials. I think it would be important to include the refs in the discussion as it's one of the refs jobs to try keep game play fluid and from getting out of control. In this game, once we hit bonus, coach was all over her girls to limit the reach ins and other aggressive play. Guess what, rough play ended! Its not rocket science, Dan.