Quote:

Arrgy,

You say a good assessor would not consider whether an official got some calls right or missed some. The major criteria, as you cite them, were consistency with the calls, whether cards were used effectively and appropriately, and physical presence.

Boyerphil's comments looked past the "missed" calls and cited those officials who were "competent and called an even, fair game" as doing a "consistently good job." He cited as his major negatives for other officials lack of a physical presence (trust me, if an official is consistently making good calls from 20 or 30 yards away, nobody NOTICES that he's not within 10 yards--face it, nobody's watching the official to see where he is on the field unless/until something happens. It's the performance that calls attention to the proximity, not the other way around) and keeping the cards in the pockets to the detriment of player safety.

Sounds to me like his assessment criteria are spot-on with the criteria you say you've been taught. Cav cites an official who, in his opinion, did a great job despite some "missed calls"--again, those weren't Cav's major criteria for a good job. So why the chuckle? Sounds like these guys might actually have some of the qualifications to be good assessors.

Speaking of which, let's make the distinction, at this point, between "qualified" and "certified." "Certified" means you have gone through the steps to acquire a piece of paper that gives you permission to act in a certain capacity. "Qualified" means you actually possess the knowledge and skill set to do a job well. While these two concepts, in an ideal world, should be related, there is no guarantee of correlation. Absence of certification does not automatically mean a person does not possess the necessary qualities to perform a job well. Presence of certification does not necessarily mean that the certified person is actually more qualified than someone who doesn't hold the certificate, or that all equally certified people are also equally qualified. The NFHS certification stamp on a $20 ball means it has gone through the process of being licensed for play in a high school match, but it certainly doesn't make it a better QUALITY ball than the MLS or World Cup ball that hasn't been submitted for NFHS certification and doesn't bear the stamp. I hold a USSF coaching license, which simply means that I have taken at least the minimum steps to acquire permission (certification) to coach at my team's level. To what degree I am QUALIFIED to coach that team is always open to debate. It would be illogical and foolish to assume that I am automatically a better and more qualified coach than anyone and everyone who does not hold an equivalent or higher license.

I find it equally illogical and foolish to dismiss out of hand the observations of anyone who does not hold certification as an official and/or assessor. Training and experience are huge factors, of course, but all training and experience does not necessarily come from certification courses. Observational skills, good judgment, and common sense existed long before the concept of certification, and I trust they continue to exist without the help of certification today.

I agree that adults screaming at adults is an unacceptable situation at a high school athletic event. I also agree that it is the coach's and the athletic department's responsibility to convey expectations of behavior to parents and fans, and to take steps to enforce those expectations--to set the tone of settling those emotional responses down, rather than stirring them up.

Still, following your pattern of being derogatory toward high school coaches and parents, you've fallen into another logical fallacy--an unsupported sweeping generalization. When you say that the folks at a college match are "a lot more knowledgeable about the game than coaches and parents in High School soccer in South Carolina," you fail to take into account that some of those coaches and parents--even some of the ones taking issue with the events on the field--are, in fact, former college players, coaches, and yes, even licensed, certified officials.

My point is, the assumption that association with high school soccer in SC automatically indicates ignorance on the part of coaches and parents is a false premise, leading to the erroneous conclusion that in any case of a difference of opinion, the high school coaches and parents must as a matter of course be wrong. This doesn't mean that, in many cases, they (we) AREN'T wrong--just that you can't automatically assume that they (we) ARE.

As I hold a certification to teach logic and logical fallacy at the college level, and I've been doing so for more than five years, I must be correct in those conclusions, right?



I'm not saying that coaches are wrong, I am saying that assessors are looking at different things then coaches do. I just found it funny that when discussing the quality of a referee they jump immediately to judging a referee by getting some calls right and some wrong. And from experience I can tell you that is not the quality of a good or bad official. I simply stated what assessors look for.

Assessors by the way must have been former referees and you can not advance as an assessor at higher level games unless you have already done them as referees. So your higher level assessors at the state and national level must have been state or national level referees. Most have 25+ years of experience as referees at all levels, and have experience in over 10,000+ games. They are not just guys who took a course and sat in a class and instantly became an assessor. They have done games at a level much higher then what you find in any high school soccer program. While not always right (believe me I have disagreed with many assessors) they know a lot more than your average high school, college, or even professional soccer coach.

As to the rest...I am just pointing out the culture of soccer that is in our state for High School, and explain the reason why more people do not come out and officiate. And whether you think it derogatory or not, it is true. Most games start fine, then devolve into yelling at and blaming the officials for losing. When you experience this night after night you wonder if your services aren't appreciated elsewhere. Most of your good officials that the OP wishes they had in high school soccer is turning their back and doing college games and other higher level games, or if they are doing high school games they are being selective of what games they do. The question is how do you get these better officials to do your higher level high school games?

1. Improve the culture of high school soccer in South Carolina. Do not tolerate the abuse of officials an opponents by fans.
2. Change the scheduling of matches so you can utilize your referee pool and lessen the amount of 2 man matches.
3. Impliment an assessment program with certified assessors who are trained to help improve referee performance, not by the associations or coaches would blindly give the referee a grade after a match.
4. Schools and AD's need to have a zero tolerance policy towards their coaches when it comes to abuse of officals. Coaches need to remember that the match is the extension of the classroom. Imagine teaching 22 students and having three people burst into your room yelling and screaming for 80 minutes straight.
5. Impliment a mercy rule. For the love of God, no one benifits when they lose 15-0.
6. Referee associations need to designate some of their officials as AR's only. Being an AR is not the same as a CR. Trust me, if you have certain officials that train exclusively as an AR on higher level matches you will have a lot less complaining.
7. Get rid of the good old boy network.