Mentoring Session

So I attended my "mentor" session on Wednesday. From the list of email address on the message I received, I figured there would be about a dozen referees showing up. Boy, was I wrong. There had to be 40+ referees!

Most of these referees were brand spanking new youth referees, fresh out of their Grade 8 class. I think I counted 6 adult referees, including myself. Most of these referees will be handling the U8, U10, and U12 rec games that the association covers. Since I already cover 2 other rec leagues, I am hoping that I'll get a chance to prove myself on the upper division (U16-U19) and local club games.

The first hour of the session was covering the basics: Be on time, look professional, checking the field, checking in the team, getting paid, how to deal with the coaches/players/spectators, etc. It's fairly basic stuff if you have been officiating for as long as I have, or if you are a responsible adult.

The next hour plus was spent on an actual game (boys U12 signature teams). The mentor referees divided us into three groups: centers, AR1 and AR2. I was chosen as a center, based on my previous experience. I was also chosen to be the first up on the field, so that allowed me to do the greeting of the captains, the coin toss and the kickoff.

The mentor then had some advice for me while I was on the field. His first bit of advice was that I was running too much, and that he was worried that I would get tired. I will admit that I do run quite a bit, seeing as though I like to go deep into the corners and run wide as well. I train to do this, and on this level of game it pays off because it's sometime difficult to read what's going to happen. It's funny that a more skilled game seems to involve less running for the referee because the players are better at controlling the ball and running an offense.

After my 10 minutes was up, they swapped me out and somebody else took over. I stayed and watched the rest of the match. I chatted with one of the other experienced refs who was also being evaluated, and I hope I get a chance to officiate with him. He seemed to have a similar outlook on how to officiate and the knowledge of the game as well.

My biggest takeaway from this mentor session would be on how to run a mentor session. I've been thinking about how to get the AYSO referees I train up to speed and at least somewhat comfortable on game procedures. I'm going to try and setup a mentor session just like this.