I Hurt Everywhere.

I love football.  European football, that is.

On Sunday I was refereeing at an all day tournament in Scarborough, and I had no idea what level of play to expect.  I had to wake up at 5:45 to get to the field by 8:15 for games to start at 8:45 till sundown.  We (my ride and fellow referee) got to the field with a beautiful morning sun and dew, and within half an hour or so, it was blazing hot and the heat lasted all day.  Oh, and I forgot sunscreen at home, so now my face is bright red.

Enough about the weather, let's talk about the games.

Game one was fast.  Both teams came out flying, and playing super aggressive, but (mostly) fair.  Only one caution near the end of the match for a handball denying the opponent possession, which he accepted with zero argument.  The next game featured the same team which received the caution (and lost).  The game was mostly smooth, except for the lopsided score due to a DOGSO-H (Denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by handling the ball, for you non-referees) in the 4th minute.  Swatted the ball away on the goal line, and was off the pitch almost before the card was out of my pocket.  And then things got interesting.

4 more games of pool play before lunch (25 minute halves, by the way), 3 of which I was in the middle for, and they were intense.  Every player put 110% into every touch, which can make for some remarkable plays, but also leads to a lot of fouls.  And I mean a lot.  I don't like to give out cards, as I'd rather just let the teams play, but there are some things that you just can't let slide.  DOGSO-H, for example.  Or when one player fouls another player 4 times in 2 minutes (same 2 players).  This long day of reffing seemed to be full of unavoidable cards, almost all of them were accepted, and all of them were deserved.

The one problem I had was in the first semifinal, right after lunch (at 4:30, because that's when people in Ontario finish lunch apparently).  Player on one team (Red) was tackled from behind (by yellow) right near the centre line, but the ball bounced out to his teammate for a 4 on 2 rush, so I played advantage.  If I hadn't left a lingering eye, I'm sure a brawl would have ensued.  The red player jumped to his feet and got right in the yellow player's face, definitely very threatening.  I stopped play to deal with the heated tempers, but not soon enough to diffuse the situation completely.  There was lots of shouting, most of it harmless, but the yellow player decided to be both loudest, and most foul, telling the red player to "F*** off."  Foul and abusive language, straight red.  Easy decision for me.  However, in my hastiness to get play started again, I forgot to deal with the red player, who was, in fact, the reason I stopped play in the first place.  He should have been cautioned for "Acting in a manner which shows a lack of respect for the game, USB (Unsporting Behaviour).

The red card was protested, but I held my ground and quoted the good old LOTG (Laws of the game) to justify it, and unsurprisingly, it stayed and the player had to sit out of the bronze medal match, which his team abandoned anyway.

The final went well, only one stupid caution.  A player was fouled, and awarded a free kick, but decided for whatever reason that he needed to throw the ball at the opponent.  Not hard enough to do any damage at all, but enough for a card, and the look on his face told me he knew it was stupid.  The day wrapped up about 10 minutes after sunset, and it wouldn't have been able to go any later, as there were no lights on the field.  A quick meeting of officials to determine individual award winners, quick payment, and a not so quick drive home finished off the day.

That day is the most discipline I have ever had to give out (6 yellow, 3 red, 7 50 minute games, average out to about 2.5 cards per 90 minute game, which is right around average), but also the most praise I have received.  Tempers were flaring most of the day, but many players from most of the 8 teams approached me at one point or another to tell me how great a job I was doing.  Let me tell you first-hand, that is rare.  When a referee makes a mistake, they are constantly reminded about it, but when they do something right, nobody says anything.  I wasn't really planning on having a moral at the end of this, but it seems fitting to say that if somebody does a good job at something, take the time (12 or so seconds is all it takes) to tell them and make their day.

Getting back into the swing of things

Yes, I'm sorry it's been a long time, and I'm sorry the post title has a pun in it. So as I've done the worst job of explaining, I'm from Victoria, but school happens in Waterloo for me, and as of about three weeks ago I am back in Victoria until the end of August. Last summer, I thought I had a job waiting for me when I returned, however an email hours before my flight changed that. I was going to have to panic, and I did, which is largely why I ended up with three part time jobs and an insane schedule. Back story complete.

This summer, I thought I would get a full time job for July and August, and I thought there was some part time work waiting at the restaurant I was at last year. Turns out I was wrong about both. So I did the only logical thing to do, and that's panic. This time though, instead of flooding the downtown restaurants with resumes, I tried flooding the landscapers' inboxes with resumes. That worked much better. For the first time in my life I found myself in a position to turn down several good full time jobs. It's really nice not having to worry about getting enough work, and it's sooooo nice having evenings and especially weekends free. I can hang out with friends and do things like ref soccer games and play volleyball! And, of course, swing dance!

Yes, that is the pun in the title I was referring to.

So I can't remember if I said it here in an earlier post or not, but my two left feet an I went swing dancing a couple times last summer. There's an event that happens every Saturday night in Vic. Both times I went I had fun, but I was thinking so hard about the dancing, and footwork, that I was super stiff and awkward and nobody could follow what I was doing. This year, I'll be able to go much more frequently, and even after just once I feel more comfortable, and I'm able to somewhat hold a conversation while dancing. I wouldn't exactly call it second nature yet, but by the end of summer, who knows! Stranger things have happened. I also learned that some very good dancers are very hard to dance with, an some not as good dancers are really easy to dance with. All depends on... Well I don't know, but it depends on something other than dancing ability.

Huh. Never thought I'd ever write a blog post about dancing, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Ciao!

The Beauty of Sport

I don't know where I'd be without sports. I love all aspects of it, from competing, to officiating, to spectating, to coaching, etc. some might even say I'm obsessed. Now, it's very hard to be a Canucks fan living in Ontario, especially without cable. Or a good team... But anyway, that's not even my favourite team.

I absolutely LOVE following our national teams in all sports, and not just during the Olympics. The one I've followed closest thee last couple years is tennis. The men made it to the Davis cup semifinals, and the women were promoted to world group II of the Fed cup. And I don't mean to brag, but I know who Vasek Pospisil was before he beat Isner in the Rogers Cup. I made sports my life when I was younger, and now they comsume me.

I am also a referee, for soccer, and now futsal. It's a lot of pressure, especially at the higher levels, but I love it. I'm not the best soccer player, but reffing allows me to stay involved, and in my eyes, when I officiate a youth game, I am helping train the national team of the future. At that level, the referee is a teacher of the game as well as an enforcer. Oh, and before you try to tell me that the chances of one of the players I ref making the national team, I'll just tell you that it's already happened. Junior national team, but she'll be a start in a few years if she keeps up the way she's going. 

And then there's coaching. All my coaching experience so far has been with volleyball, when I coached a grade 8 team, and now helping with the video analysis at UW. With the younger kids, I really challenged myself to remember all the skills I learned. I mean, I know how to do all the motions, but I don't have to think about it anymore because I've done it so often. To go from setting full time on my high school team to teaching 13 year olds how to hold their hands when they pass a ball was a big jump, and an awesome challenge. I reminded myself of some of the subtleties, and bad habits that I had picked up, so as I was teaching, I was also relearning. Correcting my faults. Clearly I'm not perfect, but I believe I'm a Bette player because of it. 

I think what I'm trying to get at here is that if you want to truly be one of the elite in your sport, it really helps to be involved at all levels. Take a reffing course, follow a professional team, coach a youth team. Even play other sports. It all helps. Not to mention you can get some awesome scholarships! I'm not sure how to bring this to an eloquent end, so I'm just going to stop talking right here.