Please read the disclaimer ... please ...

Being a technology professional, I am always on the look out for something cool or informative in the electronic frontier.

Being a legal professional, I am always leery of what I just saw, or shared, will get me into, or those I associate with, in trouble.

I think this some of these fall more in the latter than the former (somewhat).

Before proceeding, please take a moment and familiarize yourself with the Legal Stuff portion of the blog which basically says ... it's not my fault.

With that I ran across a referee section of a 2010 World Cup Blog that on the surface looked pretty good. I am interested to see what the authors have up their sleeve as some of their posts were both cutting, and funny.

Again, please read the disclaimer ... please ...

Sir ... Step away from the ice cream cone

Much is often made about referee fitness, and rightly so. Fitness is a critical component to match control. While not always used, it must always be available in the event it is called on.

What is not often discussed is assessor fitness. A brief story to help illustrate ...

Over this beautiful Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to stop with one of my kids for an ice cream at a local establishment for such. While waiting for our order, I overheard (it was really not that hard as they were speaking VERY LOUDLY) a conversation about how poor the refereeing was at a local soccer match, in particular regarding offside decisions.

My first reaction was to look in the direction of the speaker, and when I did I almost immediately dismissed their comments. Why you ask? Because the speaker was about 300 pounds with ice cream dripping from the hand that was not holding the phone.

How could I take that opinion seriously? They certainly did not look like a referee, or act like a referee, or even seem knowledgeable in the game beside knowledge of the term "offside" which seemed to be in the correct context.

It got me thinking (as I was eating my cake batter ice cream with rainbow sprinkles) that how can a referee take an assessor seriously when they don't look or act the part? Now, granted I may be taking this example to an absurd extreme, but the message stands. It is important for referee and assessor alike to be knowledgeable, act, and look the part.

Now fitness for an assessor clearly need not be to the level of a referee, but to "sell" a message to a referee that much better, putting down the ice cream cone may not be a horrible idea. I know I'm going to.

West Virginia ... or Bust

Well ... it's that time again.

Where players are finishing up their spring seasons and getting ready to compete in State Cup tournament action to see if they will be representing their states, and maybe their regions.

Referees are tuning up from the winter off, or optimally, from a winter indoor season and themselves are getting ready to compete for the same coveted spots as the teams.

Referee assessors, if they are worth their salt, are indeed doing the same. Readying their understanding of the particular tournaments and refreshing themselves about the laws of the game all in the knowledge that they will have the opportunity to mold some (probably) younger referees in the short days ahead.

This series of posts will deal with the lead up to, and details of, the 2010 US Youth Soccer Region I Championships. (Look here for the official website and here for Region I tournament information.)

My goal is to get more behind the scenes that would be typical, in a way that will protect the anonymity of the folks that I will be interacting with ... if they so choose, and give some insight along the way that some may find helpful. Others I anticipate will not, and that is okay too as sometimes learning what *not* to do from others is a valuable lesson.

So hang on, and lets see what develops.