• How to prepare for games from home
• How to get your referee game face on
• How to arrive at games ready to run
• How to handle criticism & remove its power over you
• How to quadruple your learning curve every week
•  And much more...
  

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Referee Coordinators and Assignors If you had one wish for your department - that was guaranteed to come true - it would probably be to CLONE yourself! You need to be in many places at the same time. You wish that you could pay more attention to all of your referees, especially the new ones who are getting their first games. Then again, there are are numerous referees with only 1-2 seasons ahead of the newbies that could also absorb 90% of your spare time... It's Your Call! is dedicated to help bridge the gap between the last day of licensing classes and your brand new refs' first games. If you can't be there in person perhaps It's Your Call! can provide the practical know-how of preparing to officiate in your league. This booklet won't say everything that you would nor will it cover things exactly as only you could, but it will complement your best efforts in a way that every new referee will benefit from when reading it. It's Your Call! proclaims that MORPHING DOES MATTER for new referees. Most new refs are determined to morph from general states of disorganization or unfamiliarity with how soccer referees do what they do, into a world where every game puts their emotional well-being on the line with adults who can be heartless & relentless with criticism. It's Your Call! wants to see a reduction in turnover of our new referees, estimated by many to be around 40% each year- so we show our new referees ways to quadruple the opportunities at hand to improve their officiating skills. We know that as officiating skills improve, so does one's confidence. Confidence in one's improved skills is a very welcome antidote to criticism which tends to decrease proportionately as confidence grows. It's Your Call! is an invitation to become masters of our time, specifically, to become excellent stewards of time at the fields. • To keep up with the enormous growth in soccer and the awesome growth of player talent at younger and younger levels each year, we need new referees who are physically fit, athletically adaptable from day one. One recent study of 4th graders found over 50% unable to pass minimal physical fitness tests. • We need more role models who are physically fit, possibly heading up fitness programs specifically designed for referees- if we intend to keep pace at every level of play. It can no longer be assumed or taken for granted that referees are in shape. We need to be sure that they are. • We need to secure the approval of league Boards to establish formal scrimmage game schedules for pre-season and early season games. Scrimmage games are for new referees as practice is to players. • Supervised scrimmage games link the talents of Mentors to those who are most ready to learn. • In-the-game Mentoring provides at least 4 Golden Opportunities to provide priceless customized feedback • In- the- game Mentors consistently deliver on all of their pre-game responsibilities, aware that they are role modeling proper performance of an ideal Center Referee. • The Power of Compliments goes way beyond obvious good feelings when receiving them...a compliment is an essential tool for new referees to differentiate between what is going well and what needs more work.