Quote:

I used to help out with the spring Mt. Pleasant Piggly Wiggly tournament. Back in the day, it was totally a rec tournament & we would use quite a few young referees. In order to help with their development, for several years we contracted to have a ref assessor come out and do as many assessments as he could cram into a weekend. (This was not an inexpensive thing....I seem to remember it costing $500+). The refs wouldn't know they were being assessed so there wasn't any extra pressure on them, the assessor just blended in with the parents on the sidelines. My son got assessed 3 times at that tournament over the years and I have to think it helped.



What a great idea! There should be a way for refs to get useful advice and constructive criticism instead of complaints from parents, coaches, or players. I like the "hidden shopper" approach, because it removes the element of self-consciousness from the evaluation.