Sunday, January 25, 2009

ODP Training

One of the great things about attending the ODP Championships was all the training we received. This video is about positioning and was presented by Kevin Yant who is a National Instructor.

Look for field sessions in the future where we will practice this training in a group setting.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Kris's Update on ODP

Thank you to Orion for giving a great review of the ODP Championships held this past weekend. It was indeed a great showing for NM Referees and I look forward to us making more progress at FWR 2009. All referees who participated did a great job; if you see them around ask about the experience!

Orion Stradford
Marc Laws
Ryan Ehgartner
Amanda Forletta
Oscar Toquinto
JP Afonso
David Bernard
Kris Grano

Keeping up with tradition I've loaded some pictures and, for the first time, a brief video. Unfortunately Blogger will only let me upload 100mb or less of video, so the quality of this one is kinda poor. The slideshow is better quality but lacks the fun transitions between pictures and music, so take your pick or watch both.


If you see any pictures that you'd like to have in "uber-high quality" please email me and I'll send them your way.


Movie




Slideshow



Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Orion Reports On ODP Championships

The New Mexico Delegation of referees had a good showing at the ODP Regional Championships held in Phoenix, AZ over the MLK holiday weekend. Of the eight referees from NM, seven worked in the Finals!
For me, a good learning experience at the tournament was the topic of how to handle inappropriate behavior in the technical area. It was a point of emphasis at the tournament especially with the use of a 4th official on almost every match. We all know however, that most of the regular season matches we do don't have fourth officials on them. I feel that we should still strive to meet the criteria set out in the Laws of the Game and Position Papers from US Soccer in regards to the technical area to the best of our abilities even without 4th officials.
Take a look at this link to the Position Paper released on March 22, 2006. The Memorandum is very helpful in describing what to do in situations when the field doesn't have clearly marked technical areas (sounds familiar, right), and what constitutes "inappropriate behavior."
US Soccer has also released in their Week In Review documents a three step process for managing personnel (i.e. coaches) in the technical area:
ASK: If a situation arises where there is irresponsible behavior, you are to ASK the person to stop.
TELL: If there is another occurrence of irresponsible behavior you are to inform that person that the behavior is not permissible and TELL them to stop.
REMOVE: If the non-accepted actions continue you must REMOVE that person immediately.
Following these guidelines will definitely help all of our games go much smoother, and create a better environment for the players.








Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Last chance!

Well... maybe.

If you have not re-certified and live in the Albuquerque area you need to attend the ASRA meeting Tuesday, 01/13/08 at 7:00pm. This will be one of your last opportunities to take your test and get your 2009 badge. Keep in mind that you must have the required number of training hours to be eligible to take the test and re-certify. Attending the monthly meetings, the annual clinic, "other" clinics and Game of the Week training sessions all count towards the required yearly training hours.

If you do not have a 2009 badge this is a good sign that you are not yet re-certified. Remember: you must certify every year to be able to do games. The assignors will not be able to give you assignments if you are not registered.

Contact your DRA if you have any questions!