As usual, the abuse of referees remained a big part of soccer officiating news in 2023.
Youth Soccer Insider
Posted inYouth Soccer Insider
Choosing the optimal college ID camps
The following is an excerpt from Win the College Soccer Recruiting Game: The Guide for Parents and Players, By Steve Gans. It follows up on a previously published excerpt, “Are college ID camps a necessary evil?” * * * * * * * * * * ID camps have become an entrenched part of the college […]
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Ref Watch: Rule-makers to tackle the dissent problem? We've heard that before.
A player so aggressively approaches a professional referee that the ref has to raise his arms in a protective gesture. If you think that referee would obviously yellow-card the player — for “dissent by word or action” — you’d be wrong. Tune in to games from around the world and in nearly each one you’ll […]
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Ref Watch: A fun part of reffing — meeting the players
Last year while checking in a U-14 team, one boy’s name, Briegel Morales Pérez, piqued my curiosity. So I spoke to him after the game. He had moved to California from Guatemala, and his father had indeed named him after Hans-Peter Briegel, Germany’s left back at the 1982 and 1986 World Cup. One of the […]
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Ref Watch: Throw-ins, corner-kick own goals and the new rulebook
There were only five minutes left in the U-15 game when I first got yelled at by a parent. While I was jogging back to the center circle while looking for the jersey number of the scorer who gave his team a three-goal lead, a dad started yelling at me about not calling a foul […]
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Heat and humidity can be lethal for your players — here's what to know
(We’re republishing this article as fall season soccer gets underway amid a late summer heat wave.) It can be OK to practice in 100-degree weather, or it could be dangerous. It depends on the humidity factor. So impactful is humidity that, for example, 86-degree weather can be lethal if humidity is extremely high. “Humidity is probably […]
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Ref Watch: Teenage job quests led Tori Penso and Katja Koroleva to World Cup
Tori Penso was a 14-year-old Florida youth player when her mom told her it was time to get a job. “I said OK, why don’t I work at the mall. And she said, ‘Why on earth would you do that? Why don’t you spend some time at the soccer field where you’re already at?” Penso told […]
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The youth soccer stories of the USA's Women's World Cup players: 1 through 23
The USA’s 2023 Women’s World Cup squad of 23 — from 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson to 38-year-old Megan Rapinoe — hail from nine states. Here’s a look at the paths they’ve taken to soccer’s highest level. 1. Alyssa Naeher (age 35)The goalkeeper who played soccer in her Connecticut backyard with her twin sister — Amanda, who […]
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Ref Watch: The joys of being a teenage referee
When I was 14 years old, my father and I suited up in our ref uniforms — sewn by my sister, Susi — and were gathering our gear. While about to say good-bye to my mom and my grandmother, Oma asked, “How many yellow cards do you have to bring?” We paused, then figured out […]
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Referees deserve better from TV commentators
“That’s a smart tactical foul in the moment,” Fox Sports color commentator Stuart Holden said after LAFC’s José Cifuentes kicked Lucas Romero from behind and swung his right arm at neck level as he plowed over the Leon midfielder. Romero had received the ball 20 yards inside his own half, but Holden proclaimed, “That’s not […]