Advice on how to handle mouthy players

[Ignats75]

TWo things here from my perspective. First, I had an oldtimer tell me when I was taking the course to become a referree, "When you get to the high school level, you might want to give coaches some lee-way. That's OK. But don't give the little *******s an inch." A bit of a crumudgeon, but a bisic philosophy I have followed ever since.

I too, address it at our captain's meeting. If I am the R this is my entire speech:

"Gentlemen (or ladies). You have been chosen as captains for your leadership ability. You know who your hotheads are. If you handle them, we won't have to. I only have four rules for you. Respect the game. Respect your opponent, respect the officials and have fun. Good Luck."

If they don't know the black line is out of bounds or we are going to blow the whistle if the ball touches a support wire, they are too stupid to remember it during the game anyway. So why waste the time.

Also, as an aside (HiJack warning), I never ask for speaking captains. If I have three co-captains there I want them all working on the sportsmanship issues and with me. No need to diminish the role of two of them. I'm sure there are many who will disagree with this and I understand. My mentor was the one who gave me that advice and it made sense. Sometimes, common sense is the default way to go.