Player Safety, Our #1 Priority

[Lee Robert]

Cal South Referee Monthly Educational Webinars

Join us for our next live Educational Webinar: Wednesday, April 19, from 7 pm - 8:30 pm.

Our special guest is our very own, Pro MLS & Video Match Official and newly appointed USYS Senior Manager of Referees, Daniel Radford.

Webinar Topic: Player Safety, Our #1 Priority

Click Here to register for the live webinar.

Click Here to read the USYS Announcement of Daniel as the new US Youth Soccer Senior Manager of Referees.

Our webinars are open to everyone in the soccer community: coaches, managers, players, parents, spectators, league officials, club administrators and of course referees.

 

[espola]

"Player safety is #1 priority"?

Show me.

 

[Lee Robert]

"Player safety is #1 priority"?

Show me.

Pls attend the webinar on Wednesday night and encourage your soccer community followers and referees to do the same.

 

[crush]

Pls attend the webinar on Wednesday night and encourage your soccer community followers and referees to do the same.

Hi Lee, can you tell me if this is a foul or not? The only time my wife yelled at a ref "safety first," was when a rough play was made on my little one when she was always the smallest one on the field.

 

[Lee Robert]

Hi Lee, can you tell me if this is a foul or not? The only time my wife yelled at a ref "safety first," was when a rough play was made on my little one when she was always the smallest one on the field.

100% foul in my book.

If you did not get a chance to watch the webinar, I will post the recording. We need more referees, coaches, players and parents to watch it to help improve situations like the one in your video.

 

[Lee Robert]

"Player safety is #1 priority"?

Show me.

Espola, did you get a chance to tune in for the webinar?

 

[dad4]

100% foul in my book.

If you did not get a chance to watch the webinar, I will post the recording. We need more referees, coaches, players and parents to watch it to help improve situations like the one in your video.

Thanks for posting the link.

Any other resources would be appreciated.

 

[Lee Robert]

PLAYER SAFETY, OUR #1 PRIORITY

Here is the link to the recorded webinar: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iCJ8LJeat4Kj63QNrOCEidjHD5d2oJRC/view?usp=share_link
And here is the link to the Survey and Review: https://forms.gle/zPPdnmZiedJG9Siz8 (I would love to hear from coaches, players and parents)

Here are some of the responses from the 250 that attended the live webinar:

• Focus even more on player safety.
• Call the simple foul coming out in the defensive third. Handle the game with authority and blow the whistle with confidence. Stop the game immediately if a serious foul or head injury has occurred....
• Deal with things early so they don’t escalate. It’s better to call too many fouls than too little.
• If in doubt, stop play; each competition level will expect different calls of fouls; and call what the game requires
• Be consistent, don't take unnecessary risks, in my self-reflection I will consider a handful of additional fouls I could have called
• Be more aware of the severity/amount of contact before allowing play to continue. Stop the game if I have any doubt that the player's safety is at risk.
• Call my games tighter and communicate with players
• I now know when I should stop for injuries and how to assess it
• In my match pre-game, make sure I really empower my ARs to call what they see.
• Address situations earlier than I normally would

Our webinars are viewed by referees and the soccer community in more than 20 other different states and 6 different countries. We are trying to do our part to make the games, SAFE, Fair and Enjoyable for all.

Please help us by sharing this with your coaches, players and parents and social media.

Thank you,

Lee

 

[Lee Robert]

Thanks for posting the link.

Any other resources would be appreciated.

Here is the link to all our webinars : https://calsouth.com/monthly-referee-educational-webinars/

There are so many resources, let me know if you are looking for something specific.

Most referees start with the LAWS OF THE GAME : IFAB Mobile App: https://theifab.com/logapp/

 

[crush]

PLAYER SAFETY, OUR #1 PRIORITY

Here is the link to the recorded webinar: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iCJ8LJeat4Kj63QNrOCEidjHD5d2oJRC/view?usp=share_link
And here is the link to the Survey and Review: https://forms.gle/zPPdnmZiedJG9Siz8 (I would love to hear from coaches, players and parents)

Here are some of the responses from the 250 that attended the live webinar:

• Focus even more on player safety.
• Call the simple foul coming out in the defensive third. Handle the game with authority and blow the whistle with confidence. Stop the game immediately if a serious foul or head injury has occurred....
• Deal with things early so they don’t escalate. It’s better to call too many fouls than too little.
• If in doubt, stop play; each competition level will expect different calls of fouls; and call what the game requires
• Be consistent, don't take unnecessary risks, in my self-reflection I will consider a handful of additional fouls I could have called
• Be more aware of the severity/amount of contact before allowing play to continue. Stop the game if I have any doubt that the player's safety is at risk.
• Call my games tighter and communicate with players
• I now know when I should stop for injuries and how to assess it
• In my match pre-game, make sure I really empower my ARs to call what they see.
• Address situations earlier than I normally would

Our webinars are viewed by referees and the soccer community in more than 20 other different states and 6 different countries. We are trying to do our part to make the games, SAFE, Fair and Enjoyable for all.

Please help us by sharing this with your coaches, players and parents and social media.

Thank you,

Lee

Great stuff Lee and thanks for going after safety first. I watched 11 years of high level club and high school girls soccer in Socal and I have one thing to say, "It's too dangerous." My dd is playing in Spain (for fun) and if some girls played like we do in the States, they would be escorted out of the parking lot. No dirty play or Rugby and if you knock someone down with a hard foul, you go say sorry and give them a hand. My dd loves possession and safe play but also has toughness and she got many Yellow Cards early on for being too rough, even for Spain. She called me concerned. If you get 5 Yellows, no play next game. She has played better and more under control knowing if she get's one more Yellow she could take a long bus ride to Madrid knowing she can't play and that's all she needed to hear to change her game. We need refs to call the game really tight. I just got off the phone with another parent whose kid tore their ACL. It's insane how many ACLs the girls are getting. Did you guys touch on that subject?

 

[crush]

Lee, this is her in her last year in HS soccer. She was captain of the team and got to chat it up all the time with the refs. This guy is laughing because my dd tried to talk her way out of a foul and he was like, "haha, you fouled her." She's a great kid btw and I'm so proud of her for over coming adversity in this sport.

 

[Grace T.]

PLAYER SAFETY, OUR #1 PRIORITY

Here is the link to the recorded webinar: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iCJ8LJeat4Kj63QNrOCEidjHD5d2oJRC/view?usp=share_link
And here is the link to the Survey and Review: https://forms.gle/zPPdnmZiedJG9Siz8 (I would love to hear from coaches, players and parents)

Here are some of the responses from the 250 that attended the live webinar:

• Focus even more on player safety.
• Call the simple foul coming out in the defensive third. Handle the game with authority and blow the whistle with confidence. Stop the game immediately if a serious foul or head injury has occurred....
• Deal with things early so they don’t escalate. It’s better to call too many fouls than too little.
• If in doubt, stop play; each competition level will expect different calls of fouls; and call what the game requires
• Be consistent, don't take unnecessary risks, in my self-reflection I will consider a handful of additional fouls I could have called
• Be more aware of the severity/amount of contact before allowing play to continue. Stop the game if I have any doubt that the player's safety is at risk.
• Call my games tighter and communicate with players
• I now know when I should stop for injuries and how to assess it
• In my match pre-game, make sure I really empower my ARs to call what they see.
• Address situations earlier than I normally would

Our webinars are viewed by referees and the soccer community in more than 20 other different states and 6 different countries. We are trying to do our part to make the games, SAFE, Fair and Enjoyable for all.

Please help us by sharing this with your coaches, players and parents and social media.

Thank you,

Lee

Very different from the "let them play" school of soccer referee that doesn't feel the game should be interrupted.

 

[crush]

Very different from the "let them play" school of soccer referee that doesn't feel the game should be interrupted.

Let them play "safe."

 

[espola]

Very different from the "let them play" school of soccer referee that doesn't feel the game should be interrupted.

As in "let them play rugby"?

 

[Carlsbad7]

My favorite refs are the ones that chat a little with the sidelines to keep things under control.

I also like when the center ref and line ref are mic'd up together + discuss calls on the fly. Often one ref sees something the other misses + when they work together you get a better call.

I try to say thank you to the refs after to game. (When possible) What sucks is that often refs are apprehensive when someone from the sidelines walks up to them. I get why they act this way but hopefully a little positivity helps to get them through the day + lets them know that their efforts are appreciated. ;-)

 

[crush]

My favorite refs are the ones that chat a little with the sidelines to keep things under control.

I also like when the center ref and line ref are mic'd up together + discuss calls on the fly. Often one ref sees something the other misses + when they work together you get a better call.

I try to say thank you to the refs after to game. (When possible) What sucks is that often refs are apprehensive when someone from the sidelines walks up to them. I get why they act this way but hopefully a little positivity helps to get them through the day + lets them know that their efforts are appreciated. ;-)

Poor refs. It's a thankless job. I yelled too many times and for that, "I'm sorry refs." I mean it. I just didn't like to see all the injuries and since my girl is on the smaller side & I wanted safety first, I yelled at them to pull the yellows and then send a strong message with red cards. The rugby style and "let them play" on also tuned my dd into a rugby player at times, especially in HS. She basically quit playing club after 8th grade. The few games she did play were rough as well. I won't mention clubs by name but it was intense and way too dangerous to play. HS Soccer was all she really had to look forward to and some of these girls should have been playing rugby.

 

[Lee Robert]

Great stuff Lee and thanks for going after safety first. I watched 11 years of high level club and high school girls soccer in Socal and I have one thing to say, "It's too dangerous." My dd is playing in Spain (for fun) and if some girls played like we do in the States, they would be escorted out of the parking lot. No dirty play or Rugby and if you knock someone down with a hard foul, you go say sorry and give them a hand. My dd loves possession and safe play but also has toughness and she got many Yellow Cards early on for being too rough, even for Spain. She called me concerned. If you get 5 Yellows, no play next game. She has played better and more under control knowing if she get's one more Yellow she could take a long bus ride to Madrid knowing she can't play and that's all she needed to hear to change her game. We need refs to call the game really tight. I just got off the phone with another parent whose kid tore their ACL. It's insane how many ACLs the girls are getting. Did you guys touch on that subject?

Thanks this is great. we did not touch on injury management or prevention, however FIFA conducted a study on sports injuries and with help from others developed a protocol called FIFA 11+. Here is a link to the workout poster: https://www.mayouthsoccer.org/assets/968/15/fifa 11_ poster.pdf
And here are the video links https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCGIzmTE4d0jJ8nngB9Szd8uWwuEPD4QD

I hope this helps,

Lee

 

[Lee Robert]

Lee, this is her in her last year in HS soccer. She was captain of the team and got to chat it up all the time with the refs. This guy is laughing because my dd tried to talk her way out of a foul and he was like, "haha, you fouled her." She's a great kid btw and I'm so proud of her for over coming adversity in this sport.

View attachment 16340

I love this photo, OK for me to use it in our upcoming training. The Ref is actually a very good friend of mine, Mitch, he is one of the nicest guys and continues to referee for the love of the game.

 

[crush]

I love this photo, OK for me to use it in our upcoming training. The Ref is actually a very good friend of mine, Mitch, he is one of the nicest guys and continues to referee for the love of the game.

I give you permission. My dd liked his attitude and called a great game and called fouls. You can tell he has a great attitude and love for the game.