What a bunch of crap....someday that kid is gonna have to get questioned on his/her decisions....questioning tactfully is not abuse. Nobody is advocating yelling at the kid. so as a coach do I tell my team, "sorry that ref made a couple bad calls and messed up your attempt at the goal, but his confidence and development is way more important than yours." That is why colleges now have had to double their counseling staffs because professors hold students accountable and they cant handle it. I wonder is that is how his teachers treat him, "its OK that you didn't study for this test and screwed up many answers, I am gonna tell u good job and give you an A for effort anyway......wow.It has nothing to do with the age of the players. It has everything to do with the age of the referee. Cal South, Presidio/SDDA, SCDSL, CSL and ECNL will back a youth referee 100 percent. When I have a youth referee on my crew, CR or AR, the coaches and managers get one warning before the game. All Cal South coaches know not to make and comments or questions toward a youth referee. There is zero tolerance for any comments/questions to a youth referee. The quickest way for spectators or coaches to get thrown out of a game is to yell at a youth referee. I worked with a 14 year old referee on two GU9 games. These were his first two games in the center. Riptide was the home team and I cannot remember who the visiting teams were. All four coaches told the spectators to say nothing to the refs. The Riptide coaches and spectators went out of their way after the game to provided positive comments to the youth referee and told him great job. The youth referee was all smiles and left the field with Some new found confidence. Those Riptide coaches understood that yelling at the youth referee would only make him want to quit and that positive comments would keep him coming back.
There is NEVER a good time when it is appropriate to yell negative comments or question a youth referee.