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This goes right to the heart of the discussion. No, I am not looking for anyone to agree with me, I am looking for understanding more of the mindset of officials, and quite frankly, you've given me a perfect understanding of at least one of them. You have shown me that rules have no meaning for you until they become personal. If the player was swearing, by rule, he should have received his first personal foul; the second time would have warranted ejection. Is that not what the rules state? No, but for you, my friend, when it became personal is when you decided to take something out of your pants. Officials like you give officiating a bad rep, and I am sorry for that. I don't know you, nor do I really care to, but it is quite obvious that you are officiating for all the wrong reasons. You don't know me, and I really don't care for you to either. I know the motivation that I have for working with the youth of our city, and it is to make better citizens of them. People like you hamper that honest work. Yes, they are lovable youngsters when they are given a fair shake and see that the adults around them play by the same rules. ----------------------------- What he fails to understand is that I was trying to be preventive in getting the kids to stop the swearing. I stepped across the neutral zone and warned the kids to clean up their mouths. Then a kid backs me down and tells me to mind my own damned business and I shouldn't flag that? I asked the OP how he would react if a kid did that to him, BTW, but I get the impression that he feels we're all just hired help and he's the one who's doing all the work. Sad, really, but his mentality is typical of today's youth coaches, at least from my perspective. [Edited by Rich Fronheiser on Oct 19th, 2004 at 12:39 PM] |
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I think that we both, as officials and coaches, have an attitude that lacks a mutual respect, and that is a shame. Moreover because I beleive that there are only a few coaches and a few officials that give each a bad rep. Contrary to what Mr. Fronheiser believes, I am a coach that was trying to understand a ruling, and that is why I came to this forum. Yes, I am a youth coach, and have been for 15 years and love it. Why? Because know that I am making a difference in the lives of these kids. I hate it when I see other adults in their lives hindering that work. I have greatly appreciated the well thought out responses that I have received in helping me to understand this situation a little bit better. To the others that have not been quite so constructive... well, I'll leave that up to your own personal conscience, ah... judgment.
Thank you! |
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wolfpup27 |
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Later in the game the same player started the trash again only this time I walked to the huddle with him and used a phrase a popular local official once used, "You are too good of a player to get a foul like that" and tried to settle him down. Again, this "coach" wanted to know why I was in his huddle. The answer was simple, trying to save his player, a good player at that. I could have just thrown the flag, disqualified the player and be done with it. But it was obvious coaching was lacking and the player had talent that needed it. Throwing the flag was simple and easy but trying to impress on this young man took time and effort. Later when the same player intercepted a pass and returned it 60-yards for a touchdown the response was a simple score followed by placing the ball in the end zone. Like I told him, his playing did the talking. The player was extremely pleased with his performance as it was all over his face. Do I do my job? I think so. I could have gone strictly by the book and flagged him and sent him home resentful of authority. I did not get any monetary reward from holding the flag and taking the time but the reward to me was more personal and much more rewarding. |
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I threw a kid out on Saturday for telling me to "mind my own damned business" after I was polite enough to warn the team about the repeated f-bombs they were tossing. Darling children :-) --Rich I responded: BTW: If a player is swearing, penalize him. On the second offense disqualify him. Follow your rules (9-5), not just because a kid hurt your feelings. Be professional, not polite. Flag them for every "f-bomb" they drop and if you can pin it on a specific player, toss him according to the rules. I think your example here is a perfect indication that at least one official tosses players on a whim. Rich responded: The last sentence seems to imply that I ejected that kid on a whim. You clearly don't read well as I certainly did warn the lovable youngsters and the player that was ejected only was ejected after he (1) swore at me and (2) told me to mind my own damned business. I responded: This goes right to the heart of the discussion. No, I am not looking for anyone to agree with me, I am looking for understanding more of the mindset of officials, and quite frankly, you've given me a perfect understanding of at least one of them. You have shown me that rules have no meaning for you until they become personal. If the player was swearing, by rule, he should have received his first personal foul; the second time would have warranted ejection. Is that not what the rules state? No, but for you, my friend, when it became personal is when you decided to take something out of your pants. Officials like you give officiating a bad rep, and I am sorry for that. I don't know you, nor do I really care to, but it is quite obvious that you are officiating for all the wrong reasons. You don't know me, and I really don't care for you to either. I know the motivation that I have for working with the youth of our city, and it is to make better citizens of them. People like you hamper that honest work. Yes, they are lovable youngsters when they are given a fair shake and see that the adults around them play by the same rules. Rich responded: A curse word is not a personal foul, BTW. An official is entitled to use preventive officiating to stop actions before they result in penalties. But when a kid backs an official down and swears directly at the official, there's a difference. Let me ask you this, Mr. Head Coach: If a kid did to you exactly what he did to me -- come towards you, get in your face and tell you to MYODB, would you bench the kid? Do you think I deserve less respect than a coach? Like it or not, that's just the way I see it. Please don't respond. But, I actually did respond: Rich, you know that I do greatly appreciate your responding to my questions. And I truly believe that these forums are extremely constructive in helping to understand not only the rules, but the mindset of the people that we come in contact with every week. It helps me to understand your thinking as an official, and hopefully, you can learn something about coaches. I beg to differ with you, "dropping an f-bomb" as you put it, is unsportsmanlike conduct, is it not? Is that not a penalty? I know in our league, and even in our state, such obscenities will be flagged because we have a mandated sportsmanship policy. To answer your question, yes, I would bench him, and I have even suspended a player for his actions, even removed him from the team. I know and understand these players way better than any official does on the field, because I work with them everyday. In this particular case, if that player was mine, and you had not ejected him, he would be buffing the pines, because I don't tolerate that type of behavior. I am sorry that there are not more coaches that have that philosophy. You had the opportunity to quell the storm by flagging it earlier, but you chose not to, until a player got up in your face and made it personal. You were both wrong, and until we come to that realization, I suspect that there will be continued ejections along this line because no one is teaching both the players and the adults; coaches and officials included. Case in point; this season I had one of my players ejected because he threw a punch. It just so happened to be one of my starting defensive linemen and son of one of my assistant coaches. I saw the incident; happened right in front of me. Did I get all over the referee? No, I got all over the player and my coach for questioning the call. Both of them argued with me that the other player was hitting him while he was down. My teaching point was that there is nothing that another player does that deserves to have a punch thrown at him; end of discussion. That is what I teach my own children, that there is nothing that anything that anyone does to you that deserves your retaliation. Does that stand to good reason? Sorry, that this has been such a long response/posting, but I thought that I owed it to those that were positively contributing to its success to know the whole story here, and not taken out of context. Thank you again, one and all for your help. Yes, even you, Rich. |
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As an example that speaks to talking back to the ref (Rich I believe). I had a kid doing a bunch of general trash talking, and he got a serious warning from me to settle down, then later in the period their defense muffed a punt and it was recovered by the offense. I was covering and signalled the direction. He looked right at me and gave me the German equivalant of 'Kiss my hairy butt old man'. My flag came out for the UC - but the white hat (I don't know him we were doing a tournament with mixed crews) said not just 15, the kid is DQ'ed. I was surprised, but the team really settled down afterwards. James |
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Officials are gonna make bad calls, they can miss things, mispercieve things, forget things or misapply things. That is why in football we always communicate so that regardless of the initial signal, we strive to get the call right. Unless there is some bias though, these mistakes should break even over time. Teams that "protest" and refuse to continue play, prevent themselves from winning despite a bad call. They focus on the bad call and not on a strategy to win. I hope the state chewed on the coach and/or AD that decided not to continue play for his/her lack of professionalism and leadership of the youth. Around here, such an act by a coach or an AD would be the same as them submitting their resignation.
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See the ball, insure its dead Then the whistle, not ahead |
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You sound too bitter and cynical to effectively work youth sports. Sure, some of the coaches are psychos but they are in the distinct minority. The vast majority are dedicated to the kids and appreciative of the officials contributions to the game. |
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