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.








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