Begin Officiating at 50?

[dsqrddgd909]

Great forum here everyone. Lots of good info.

I am planning on registering as a ref for next year.

I have a few questions:

1. 50 too old to start?
2. What one thing makes you love being a referee (or is official the preferred term?)
3. What one thing do you hate?
4. How long until you became proficient?

[CaRef5]

I'm new to this forum too, with that said. Welcome!

1. 50 isn't to old to start, just as long as you can get up and down the court.
2. I love the intensity of the game, the way the crowd either hates you or loves you. (most of the time, it's hate...jk)
3. i hate loud parents
4. and last but not least... practice makes perfect, i have been officiating since i was 15... I'm 19 now, doing Varsity boys games in my HS association. (it all depends how much time and effort you put in before you become "proficient")

[26 Year Gap]

Not too old to begin. I began [again] at 45. It is an age that is common for there to be an empty nest. As long as you work hard at improving, listen to good advice [and follow it], make sure you get in position [don't hang at half court if you are trail], and enjoy what you are doing [not there for the money], I say you should go for it.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by CaRef5

I'm 19 now, doing Varsity boys games in my HS association.

Perhaps we should be discussing what age is too young to start.

I've never agreed with making someone so close to the age of the players the game official. The ability to control the situation just isn't there.

[Back In The Saddle]

But he's from Cali. This is a very slow progression for him. If he weren't 19, he'd be doing D1 by now.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Perhaps we should be discussing what age is too young to start.

I've never agreed with making someone so close to the age of the players the game official. The ability to control the situation just isn't there.

Agreed.

[ref2coach]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Perhaps we should be discussing what age is too young to start.

I've never agreed with making someone so close to the age of the players the game official. The ability to control the situation just isn't there.

Nevadaref your blanket statement is wrong for many very good teenage referees. In soccer I am a referee assessor. I routinely assess teenage referees working games of players within 1 to 2 years of their own age and doing an excellent job. "Ability to Control" is a function of personal ability and training, not a "group" characteristic.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by ref2coach

Nevadaref your blanket statement is wrong for many very good teenage referees. In soccer I am a referee assessor. I routinely assess teenage referees working games of players within 1 to 2 years of their own age and doing an excellent job. "Ability to Control" is a function of personal ability and training, not a "group" characteristic.

I'm a well-known soccer referee on the west coast. I've done literally hundreds of HS contests, including state finals, and youth soccer games at high level tournaments, including regionals.
I have seen lots of youth referees, and I have seen lots of youth referees doing a great job of calling fouls, throw-ins, goal kicks, and corners. These kids may someday turn into excellent referees, but right now are lacking in the people skills area. They are merely robots running around on the field blowing the whistle. There is next to no management going on. That's fine for a U12 or U14 game, but when the player reach HS age, especially for HS varsity matches, that's just not enough.

I have yet to see a youth referee CONTROL the environment at a game.

Perhaps you and I are not thinking the same thing when I say control the game. So let me attempt to define it. It encompasses all of the following.

A. Command of the field: Taking charge of problem players on the field and get them to fall in line by having a word. Using their voice as a tool during the game. If a card has to be shown, that's the way it goes for some knuckleheads, but a strong referee can get the majority of the players, especially kids, to behave as needed without using the cards. Most youth referees can't do this because they don't have that parenting ability/experience. Dealing with injuries.

B. Bench decorum. Is a hollering coach being dealt with? Is the adult on the bench showing proper respect to the young referee on the field? If not, is the referee demanding that from the coach? How are the substitutes behaving? Are they remaining in the team areas or are they up wandering around where they shouldn't be? Are the coaches bickering with each other? Are the substitutions being handled properly or are they doing it however they please? Using the captains to help.

C. Spectator situations. Are the parents acting in a proper manner for a youth or scholastic game? Does the referee know where the game/site administrator is? If there isn't one around is the referee capable of handling a situation with a fan? What if a fan has to be removed? Are the spectators where they should be? Do the ARs have enough room to operate? Do the ARs have to clear people out of the way themselves or does the Referee look out for his crew?

D. Awareness of upset players/people and potential problems. Knowing game time remaining, knowing which players are fouling frequently and dealing with that, knowing which players are the captains. Knowing the score, knowing who is in the book, knowing that a card will result in a send-off before looking in the book. Ramifications of bad blood from from previous games/seasons/or years.

E. Partner disagreements and over-zealous assitants. How does the Referee handle these? Can the referee tell an adult partner that his call is incorrect or unnecessary and isn't going to be accepted? Can he tell an over-zealous one to focus on his own area?

F. Odd situations. Does the referee have enough experience to handle the strange situations that sometimes come up? Has the referee seen that before and know what to do? Is there enough wise judgment in this person to make a quality decision? Can the official think out of the box?

G. Applying the spirit and intent of the rule vs the letter of the law. Was the person even around when the rule was written/changed/clarified. Does the person understand the history of the development of the rule?

H. Big game pressure and situations. Rivalry games. Dealing with bad blood from previous years? Is the required courage there to make the tough or unpopular call?

I. When the referee walks onto the field do the players and coaches think, "Good we have XXX today" or something else less positive?

I have yet to see a referee under the age of 21 who can do all of that. Most under the age of 25 don't. I'm not saying that it isn't possible for people of those ages to do a quality job, especially when they are partnered with someone who is older. However, if the adult/veteran is handling the game control/game management and the younger official is just focusing on the basics, then he isn't really taking care of business. Someone else is doing a good deal of the work for him and that is allowing him to succeed.

I'm convinced that "ability to control" has a great deal to due with age and maturity. Very little of it can be taught. I must be learned from experience. Feel free to disagree, but I am certain that I am more than qualified to make the statement that I did.

[CaRef5]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Perhaps we should be discussing what age is too young to start.

I've never agreed with making someone so close to the age of the players the game official. The ability to control the situation just isn't there.

everyone is intitled to their opinion... but im pretty sure i could sell my control of the game anywhere i officiate




and i am not a "soccer ref" i dont just run around blow my whistle lookin like a "robot", and imo soccer is a much easier sport to officiate then basketball. Disagree if you like but im only 19

[Adam]

Originally Posted by CaRef5

everyone is intitled to their opinion... but im pretty sure i could sell my control of the game anywhere i officiate




and i am not a "soccer ref" i dont just run around blow my whistle lookin like a "robot", and imo soccer is a much easier sport to officiate then basketball. Disagree if you like but im only 19

I'm just curious, but what exactly do you base this opinion on?

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I'm just curious, but what exactly do you base this opinion on?

The fact that he's too young to know any better.

[jdmara]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Perhaps we should be discussing what age is too young to start.

I've never agreed with making someone so close to the age of the players the game official. The ability to control the situation just isn't there.

I'm sure I'm going to take an unpopular stance but I'm going with Nevada on this one. I was thinking about this last night after reading the first few posts of this thread. Although I consider myself a young official (only 26), I think that with age comes a lot of great qualities that official's must possess to excel. The major thing that many younger official's fail to possess is emotional maturity to handle tense situations (especially with disgruntle coaches). It's just a fact of life that emotional maturity isn't something we are innate with from birth. On the other hand, I've met many "older" adults that still don't have this skill either.

My $0.02

-Josh

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by dsqrddgd909

Great forum here everyone. Lots of good info.

I am planning on registering as a ref for next year.

I have a few questions:

1. 50 too old to start?
2. What one thing makes you love being a referee (or is official the preferred term?)
3. What one thing do you hate?
4. How long until you became proficient?

1) Are you kidding? You're just a kid.
2) I love the feeling of total authority.
3) My partner eating burritos just before the game - for many reasons.
4) Still working on it since I began with Dr. Naismith.

[amusedofficial]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

1)
I love the feeling of total authority.

I got into after age 50. The feeling of total authority is not to be taken lightly, especially among those of us married for a few years -- we get to exercise authority we don't have, and never will have, at home.

Also, take lots of kids travel team games. Most are on weekends. It will get you out of all sorts of weekend chores. Remember, since if you're not doing it for the money, you can toss the spouse the extra cash, and this combined with the absence required to bring her/him the extra cash is a wonderful way to justify not spending Saturday morning re-grouting the tub or some equally tedious nonsense.

[sj]

Not to old at all. Make sure that you get yourself in shape. Especially stretching. Even if you've been active doing other things your body will be doing things they haven't done in years. Workout doing things that you might be doing on a court so you get used to doing those things under controlled circumstances. Start by going easy doing starts, stops cuts etc. The biggest bummer there could be is that you get some kind of an injury right out of the box. Start slow. Also consider putting in arch supports into your shoes. That will help you avoid plantar fasciitis a real common injury among officials. Just a couple of cents worth.