Only a few weekends left

I'm sure quite a few of you are anxious for the end of the season. This upcoming weekend is the final weekend of State Cup and after that there's only Sandia Cup left. Don't forget to get your availability in to Paul. You can fill out the form at the NMSRA website.

For the diehards out there fear not, there will be plenty of summer games to go around.

Serious Foul Play

We can discuss this later, for now just check out the video:

Thank you

A big thank you to everyone who helped out with the Far West Regional League and DCSL games these past few weekends. There were some great games out there and I know we all learned a lot. A few things that I noticed:

• Pre-game discussions are a vital part of the game. A lot of the "mistakes" I saw out there were related to communication failures. Failures that in part could've been avoided by discussing situations during pre-game.
• League rules, know them! If the league you're reffing has special rules (such as with FWRL and substitutions) make sure you know them. Also, ask other people with experience for suggestions on how to handle the different rules so that you don't mess up.
• We need AR's to clean up their signals overall. Don't relax too much when you aren't in the middle, remember you need to look sharp, too.

I have also learned a lot of things about FWRL and our referees. We had the pleasure of some Las Cruces referees coming up to do games and I hope to continue that in the future. I think they learned a lot and we did, too. Remember that State Cup and Sandia Cup are just around the corner. Try to keep working on the details to make yourself that much better! There are going to be some decisive (and therefore challenging) games ahead so stay on top of things.

Referee Ballet

I'm sure many of you have already seen this, but I'll post it again. This has to be one of my favorite videos and to this day it still makes me laugh. Absolutely no instructional value is contained within this video. Well, perhaps it reminds us that we never really know how we look out on the field. Who knows maybe you do some funny things, too. That's why its a good idea to ask your Assistant Referees to give you some feedback every time you do a match. Will it always be good? No. But take what you feel applies to your game and politely dismiss the rest (privately, of course!).



Please note: For optimal playback please ensure you have at least Macromedia Flash Player 7.0+ plug-in.

Welcome

Thank you for taking the time to visit this blog! There are many ways we can improve as referees in New Mexico and this will be a great place for us to share ideas. The game of soccer as we know it has changed drastically in the past five years; the game is faster, players are stronger and overall its more sophisticated, so we need to make sure and keep up. By staying on top of communications, learning new techniques and sharing our knowledge I think we will all find soccer a little more enjoyable in New Mexico.

Feel free to email me with ideas and topics for posting. I'm going to try and make this as interesting as possible so even those who aren't die-hard soccer referees should be able to read this without falling asleep. Most of the items I'll post about won't be new and I'll always link back to the original author as applicable. Don't make the mistake of assuming I'll be able to cover everything here; you'll still need to keep up to date with memorandums from USSF, local training sessions (ASRA meetings, the annual recertification clinics, et al.) and current documentation such as Advice to Referees.

Finally let me remind everyone that this is all in the best interest of the referee body as a whole. Even if and when we talk about specific game circumstances I ask for respect in all aspects. Don't use this as a way to demean other referees, administrators or any one else. Although we, as a group, are comprised of many different levels of referees it is imperative that we remain cohesive.

See you all out on the pitch!