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Old Thu Jun 13, 2002, 02:17pm
zebraman zebraman is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,910
This "pouring it on" really does make it difficult for everyone. The losing team gets frustrated and so do the coaches. The losing parents are frustrated too because they don't like to see their prince or princess being humiliated. It is very tempting to start calling "breath fouls" against the pressing team and I certainly would not think less of a ref who did that, especially at younger levels.

That being said, my personal policy is to just keep calling the game as unbiased as I can. I hustle my rear off to try to be in perfect position in case there is a foul. I don't want to make the frustration worse by letting the frustrated team get fouled without a whistle. Remember that the winning team often has their second team in as well and it isn't fair to punish those kids with "breath fouls" when it may be their only chance to play.

I have found that these things eventually take care of themselves. The losing coach and/or the losing parents are generally upset enough that they follow-up on it and complain. Any league administrator with a clue will do something to prevent it from happening again. If not, don't accept assignments in that league anymore. Around here, all the summer leagues that I ref below the varsity level have a "no press" rule once team is up by 15 or more. At the the Varsity level, it isn't a problem because the coaches know each other and have enough respect to not do it.

Z
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