Today, following training we had our debriefing session. For all you non-referee types this is when the referee instructors show us the positive and negative video situations from our matches. All the referees (who aren't on a game for that day) are in attendance. During the debriefing session the instructors show video clips from the last 4 games, as opportunities for all the referees and assistance to learn. From the moment the meeting kicks-off you are pretty much crossing your fingers that what you saw in the match in real-time is exactly what all 16 cameras picked up, including in slow-motion. As a referee we only get one chance and it is a split second at that. It is all on video, so no excuses only learning for the next time. Needless to say the USA ref crew did well, with a few learning points. And for all you referees out there, there is ALWAYS something to learn or improve upon - always.
Overall the games so far have been good as well as the officiating. Some points of emphasis that we discussed today include taking care with elbows and good use of cautions for breaking up a promising attack.
Other News: we received the second round of appointments and the good news is that the USA referee crew has been assigned a second match. July 3rd, 9am PST on ESPN Brazil v Norway. Should be an amazing match. Set your DVRs :)
And of course the final great news from today - USA WNT beat North Korea 2-0. A great start for both USA teams at the Women's World Cup 2011
Congrats to the team for this great assignment! How do you prepare for a game where you don't speak either language(though I assume that at least the Norwegians speak English)?
ReplyDeleteWolfram
Luckily Football is an international language! Did you know that most of what we communicate to players comes from our body language, next is tone and the very last portion is the actual content of our words. The most important thing we can do as a referee is be clear in our body language, use our voice wisely - the words are our last concern (but do be careful with what you say :) ).
ReplyDelete