ref2coach

To date have refereed over 600 High School soccer games. Most teams have consulted their keeper or coach before the coin toss and most choose a field position. Very few choose the ball.

Part of the reason is in the past some coaches complained to TSSAA that the recovery time for a team with a late game was less than for teams that had early games. Bunching the game up on time was "deemed" more "fair".

A couple of times a season. Once the score differential is 5 or so, I will swing by the trailing coach and ask, "would you be interested in shortening the game?" If the answer is yes, I go to the leading coach and as the same question. If the answer is yes, I then ask them to meet at the half line and come up with a time and let me know. Most common is that they will say about 10 more minutes of play and they both empty their benches.

The thing I do not understand is why the people who are upset with lopsided scores are not questioning their own coach if they asked the opposing coach if he was willing to shorten the game. TSSAA utilizes NFHS rules and the rules state that "a game may be shortened with the agreement of both coaches and the head referee." I know for a fact that no referee in our association would refuse a request by the coaches to shorten the match.

Being very near the middle of this game I appreciated the actions of all participants. TSSAA rules adaptation allows for a lopsided game to terminate with the agreement of both coaches and the referee. Team B's coach at half time said he wanted to play ~30 minutes of the 2nd half, Team A's coach agreed. Team B played as hard as they could the entire game. Team A played a two touch restriction but continued to play, instead of playing keep away, with only 8 field players. There were only 2 fouls committed the entire game. Team A did not say or do anything to demean their opponents, no player was "showing off" they just worked the ball around attempting to get each player a goal. The clock "failure" was pre-planned to not show double digit goals. Anybody who would say anything to demean the actions of anyone associated with this game is off base.

TSSAA adheres to NFHS rules. TSSAA has communicated to all referee supervisors in TN that all post season matches are to follow NFHS timing rules. If visible score board clock is available, it shall be the official timing devise. When visible clock not available, +/or no competent clock operator, then the referee shall keep the time on the field. The referee shall announce when 1 minute remains and shall accurately signal when the actual time expires. The timing devise is to be stopped and started per NFHS rules and additional time past the 80 minutes shall not be added. Now for the philosophy question. Why should the defenders have to defend even 1 second past the 80 minutes of a legal contest? In post season matches if the score is tied we have overtime for the offense to score. Why should they be allowed "extra" non "legal" time to tie or win a game?

4-2 Final 7th year in a row to go to State. Finished the job this time.

Hendersonville has scored 3 goals in OT. 4-1 not much time to go

It all starts with recreation soccer. HHS & BHS for many years had it's players volunteer to help the parent coaches in the youth city recreation soccer. When my Son was u5 we had an HHS player that helped out in training once a week. At that time Hendersonville had only HHS and BHS now there is BHS, HHS, JP2, MHMHS & SCHS. Recreation soccer now has Coaches from the TUSC club that does the parent coach training so that u5 through u8 players get good training on ball control and proper passing technique. Starting at u9 the better players are attracted into club soccer and trained by only USSF licensed coaches. The result of starting young is that ~80% of the players at 4 of the Hendersonville schools have been exposed 2 season per year of good training and competition, before arriving at High School and the "off" season during their 4 years in High School. I for one served as a coach and board member in recreation soccer and also in Club/Select soccer. The age group I started out coaching and finished up managing had players at all 5 Hendersonville High Schools as will as Gallatin, White House, McGavock & Hunters Lane. Do you want regular success in your town's HS soccer program? Many people need to get off of their butts and put their time, effort and money into 5 to 18 year old children so the High School Coach has a foundation to build on. Do the work over many years and you will not care about the classifications because your HS will be successful.

The venue that parent labor built. Every season a parent of each player had to work a minimum of 5 events at Titan's stadium or NASCAR race. The school provides the Coaches stipend and ~$500 per year. The parents sweat or freeze depending on the event, while working to benefit the team and their guests.

FYI, SCHS knowing that it is being reclassified to AAA next year choose to play the local AAA schools they will have to play next year. Their extra losses this year were to AAA schools. LA should not look to the 7 losses and take any comfort.

I don't think we will really know until after our TN Club teams play in the "Regionals". Where they will have only played HS soccer and no Club State Tournament, before showing up at "Regionals".

A player being outside of a field boundary line has NO BEARING on whether the ball is in play or not. A player may be temporarily, totally off of the field of play and play a ball that is in, on or above the boundary line. boomer10 Thanks for clarifying your exact position. The game result is as it was. My curiosity was due to the player who made the cross was adament that the ball was still in play. At this time it makes no difference other than the discussion may clarify the rules for any who are in doubt.

Speaking as a referee also, No referee should ever guess. Facts are as you state sometimes the ball +/or players will beat an AR to a position, when that occurs the montra is "when in doubt, do not guess." The first person to relay the information was someone from Tullahoma, a town far from either school, standing still in position a yard or two from the goal line, while the AR was still more that 10 yards away trying to "catch up".

Huston does one thing in particular better than any HS team I have seen in 2 or 3 years. That is: they bring the ball wide, turn the corner to get into the 18 then softly "slot" a pass back to the penalty spot area. The difference is that the players without the ball are putting in the effort to be making runs into the 18 so there are multiple options for the dribbler to pass to. In yesterday's game were it not for an extremely athletic 6'3" GK, Huston would have scored ~3 goals in the first 5-6 minutes.

Liverpool you are misunderstanding what happened. the ball went to the goal line between where the 6 and the 18 intersect the goal line. The HHS player lofted the ball over the ORHS GK who was near post and then HHS shot the ball completely into the goal. Arsenal I see you are from Tullahoma. Where were you in relation to the goal line? Which side of the field were you on? I was on the opposite sideline past the half way line. From my totally poor position I had no view of the ball, but I did notice that AR1 was not on the goal line when the HHS player struck the ball, arriving at the goal line only after the goal had been scored.

All well and good. How about you tell all the referees what they are supposed to do when the State Director of Soccer has informed all his "Supervisors" that In TN, the State wants Foul language dealt with by the "letter" of the rule? That information is presented in the preseason State "Rules Meeting" that is mandatory attendance for all referees as well as a "Representative" from each school that participates in TSSAA sanctioned Soccer. If the player verbalizes his foul language quietly, so only the referee and a few "close" players can hear it, the referee can plead "deaf", BUT when the player "YELLS" the profanity so that it cam be heard in a 150 yard circle s/he has only themselves to blame when ejected.

Below is a link to the article in the Clarksville paper. http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs....PORTS/805150353

Prescient question. They seem to have developed a bad habit of playing down to the level of competition. Playing a good team, on a quality field, they play much better.

Reasons that time is stopped in NFHS rules. Each time a goal is scored. -----Can be as little as ~35 Seconds can be way over a Minute. Affected by how long for ball to be returned to the center circle. How many and how long it takes all substituted players to clear the field. Each time a player is injured and the trainer or coach is beaconed onto the field. ------Rarely less than a minute may be several minutes. Each time a player is Cautioned or Ejected. ------Usually more than a minute because NFHS rules require the referee to show the card, Record the player information and then GO TELL BOTH coaches why the player was cautioned or ejected. Only after fulfilling all three requirements is the referee allowed to return to the proper position for the restart. Any other time the referee determines that time is being wasted. Note: Under NFHS rules the clock is stopped for each of the above situations, time is not "added" as under USSF Laws. The difference is that a referee who has been properly stopping and re-starting the watch shall Signal the end of play when the time reaches 40 minutes of playing time, REGARDLESS of where the ball is or what is occurring on the field when the 40 minutes is reached.

You are correct, I went back to the TSSAA "Handbook". In the paragraph above the "ejection" it has "in soccer RED CARD ONLY. So I guess that the "ONLY" eliminated the "Yellow/Red".

I believe there is a TN Soccer Coaches association. You all need to present a united front and get this onto the June TSSAA meeting agenda. I referee basketball as well as soccer. In Basketball a player can accumulate 5 fouls in every game, be eliminated from the game, and still play the next game. But in soccer you can have 2 reckless tackles, poorly timed etc and you have a "soft" red and the player is setting out TWO games. This is wrong. NFHS has the concept of "Yellow/Red" vs "Red" cards. In my opinion "Yellow/Red" should have no additional game sanction. "Red" should have 1 additional game sanction just as soccer is in the rest of the world. All referees are required to submit an "unusual occurrence" form any time a "Red" or "Yellow/Red" is issued. TSSAA should read the "reported reason" for the "ejection". Only when the reason is "Violent Conduct" or Foul & Abusive behavior directed at an Opponent or Official should result in a multiple game suspension.

They were lacking a large chunk of their scoring punch. In the previous game while the were up by 3 goals, near the end of the game Will Maddox dissented over a throw-in near half line in front of all spectators. He addressed his dissent LOUDLY, focused not on the call, but directed at the referee. He had been cautioned earlier in the game, so it was his second caution. He will also have to set out this next game per TSSAA's rules regarding an ejected player.