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Clipper, I guess we have to agree to disagree. I have refereed several AAU youth games where when a young player makes a mistakes, the coach yanks that player out and either chews the player out or benches the player for the rest of the game. If AAU is suppose to supplement high school basketball, that's fine, but I do not see that being the case given the amount of games some these teams play. When I was in high school up in New York, I would go to camps like Five Star and Eastern during the summer where I played against some top D 1 and D 2 prospects. We also got the benefit of first rate coaches who helped us polish our skills. Even the referees would sometimes pull me over to tell me what I was doing wrong. The type basketball I see at AAU is more worthy of playground ball. Also, at the higher levels, some AAU coaches are paid by Nike and Adidas, which makes me wonder if these coaches have the best interest of the player or of the sneaker companies.

Having refereed high school and AAU basketball, I really think AAU is hurting player development in this country. AAU coaches do not teach fundamentals and only look for winning results. I would not be suprised that within 10 years a good 30% to 40% of NBA players are from Europe because they are more fundamentally sound.

Where were the students cheering from? If they were in the stands, the official had no business telling them to be quiet during pks. If they were behind the goal, they should not be there in the first place.

I guess we joined ranks with the basketball officials.

wjr I don't know who are the top soccer officials are in Tennessee, and as rule of thumb I would never criticize another official. One way to gauge officiating in Tennessee is look at the distribution of USSF referee grade levels. I just got upgraded to a 7 and I am about half way into my game count to apply to get upgraded to a 6. However, being a 7 does not mean I am better than an 8 or worse than a 6. I've worked with some 8s, 7s, and 6s, that could easily referee higher-level games but chose not to upgrade because of the hassle involved with the paper work, arranging the assessments, and attending the upgrade clinic. Be that as that may, of the 1,949 registered referees in 2001, there was only one grade 1 national referee (Level 3). Over 90% of the registered referees in Tennessee were a grade 8 while 83% of registered referees in all other associations were a grade 8. You can go the URL below and see how Tennessee compares to rest of the state associations for 2001. http://dps.altdc3.va.twimm.net/USSF/doc/co...nt/doc_6_62.pdf

Redrage: I was a varsity basketball official too in Nashville. I have no problem when people criticized the calls I made. I’ve been in gyms where according the referees in the stands, half of my calls were wrong. It's a part of the game. If did have skin as thick as an elephant, I would have hung my whistle up a long time ago. I also refereed a few "football matches" in Scotland, where there is a different standard of behavior towards the referees. In some cases, things have gotten out of control, especially during Old Firm fixtures (Celtic v. Rangers). The only difference is that the officials are 100% supported by the SFA and the police, if need be. In Tennessee, I've seen players spit at referees and nothing happened. I've seen parents run on to the field and attack referees and nothing happened. I've had a coach follow me to my car and put his hands on me and nothing happened. And if some sanction does come down, it's always appealed and everyone goes about their business like nothing happened. The only league in Nashville that supported the referees and took serious action against individuals who assaulted referees was the Nashville Hispanic League. Which, in terms of skill level, is the best league in Nashville. I guess it because they have better appreciation of the game. Inviting someone to become a soccer referee is NOT a poor excuse Redrage. Saying what you posted is nothing more than a cheap cop out. If you can to better job than the man in the middle, go out and prove it.

So what's stopping you from becoming an official. If you can talk the talk, can you walk the walk?

A coach or an AD and make a request to a regional assignor not to senda certain referee(s) to officiate there games. Some assignors will go along with the request while others would tell the coach or AD to drop dead. There are also schools that are blackballed or blacklisted by officials for a variety of reasons (i.e., game fee is not paid up-front and the school only mails out the check after a compliant has been filed with the TSSAA by the referee). There are two schools in Nashville that are known for not paying officials on time and often they cut a check for the wrong amount (I also had a check bounce). I told my assignor that it isn't worth the aggravation to deal with those schools, and I asked him if he could send me somewhere else or not use me at all for that night.

Politics plays a big role in influencing how officials conduct themselves. When officials expel coaches from certain schools, the TSSAA, while enforcing the fines and suspensions, often allows the offending schools to blackball the official as a petty way of getting back at the official for having to dole out $250 after their appeal gets tossed out. In dealing with some schools, it is no win situation. The referee is left with the choice of either enforcing rules of the game and risk getting blackballed or staying under the radar screen by being selective in calls and carding in order to keep his or her assignments. There is plenty of good soccer in Middle Tennessee and beyond and people are always looking for officials. Before I moved out Tennessee, I decided to cut down on my high school assignments so I could referee more Nashville Hispanic League games and men’s league games up in Bowling Green. This enabled me to get my game count up and I eventually upgraded to the next USSF referee level.

I thought the same you did, but during halftime of a JV girls basketball game I was refereeing at Smyrna, he came over and gave my partner and me a slice of pizza and a Gatorade. He told me it was make-up for all problems he gave me during games I had Smyrna. Some people may have had different experiences with him and I am sure to many people he may come across as an absolute jerk. I call only speak for myself because once I got to know him, he seemed to be an affable person.

The Smyrna coach lost his cool during a game -- what a shock! I refereed his team two years ago in a play-off game against Gallatin. His girls were very physical, but when the Gallatin girls did not back down, he started to harp on us for some prissy fouls that would not be even called in U11 girls game. Sometimes he forgets that soccer is a contact sport, and contact, even the weakest of challenges, goes both ways. Smyrna won the game with the two well deserved goals from their forwards and scored another goal off a magnificent free kick. I did stick the Smyrna coach with yellow card during the game because of his insistent whining. Once you get to know the Smyrna coach, he is actually a good guy. I had Warren County two years ago in JV game at McGavick, and the coach looked like a heart attack waiting to happen. Needless to say, we did not see eye to eye on every call.

I don't think being a Catholic has anything to do with the trouble that happened after the game. Having refereed soccer and basketball in Tennessee and now refereeing both sports in Northern Virginia and Washington, DC, troublemakers come in all sizes, colors, and religious dominations. If it were parents from a Baptist or Church of Christ school, would your post to this board be any different?