AAU Spring Nationals - refs

[truthsquad]

Good tournament and overall good officiating but there is one huge exception. The ref with the brown curly hair that always verbalizes (loudly) his near fall count. This guy is a complete joke when it comes to officiating. I don't get why he is allowed to ref matches after the amount of disputes I see him in at tournaments. This guy makes up the rules as he goes. He stops matches for illegal holds that the rule book clearly shows are 100% legal. He is constantly talking to the kids throughout the match saying stuff like "improve, improve, improve; or "watch that, watch that"; or "careful, slow down" With a higher level wrestler they may ignore him, but I have witnessed many wrestlers putting themselves in bad situations because of his urging to "improve." He almost always calls arm bars and power half's as potentially dangerous. I witnessed one match where one wrestler had the other in a cradle and he was urging the top wrestler to "improve." I saw him call stalling on a top wrestler running a 1/2 while the bottom man was balled up almost fetal position. I saw him call a stalling less than 5 seconds into a match on a final OT ride out. He wants to be seen and "in the match" so to speak, so bad that he is costing kids matches and really upsetting many coaches. I know the other refs see it and heard a few actually talking about how bad he was.

 

And before you say its sour grapes over a loss, it is not. Luckily he did not ref my kids matches and my kid won every match without controversy. This is simply an observation I have made over the past several tournaments where he is a ref. I'm thinking there should be some type of rating system in place to elminate fools like this guy. He really leaves a sour taste.

[TeamTN]

There is a rating system in place for the Spring Youth Nationals. We had 2 officials who were rating the others. One of the supervising officials is Don Elsea and the other is from PA I believe. All the officials were rated and ranked.

 

Truth Squad, have you ever approached this official and offered your insight and advice? He may help him become a better official.

[truthsquad]

Yes I have!!!!! Not only have I had discussions with him regarding his calls but I have witnessed several other coaches doing so as well. This ref is always right, just ask him. He is very arrogant and unprofessional.

 

I attempted to discuss this referee with Darrell and was told that I should speak with Don Elsea. I already had but nothing has changed.

 

I applaud you for putting in a rating system, I believe this is a step in the right direction, but I believe you could get more benefit by taking some feedback from coaches. Do an anonymous survey of referees at multiple tournaments and I'm certain you will see a pattern witht this guy. And don't just wait until there is a problem, because as a tournament director I know the benefit of the doubt always goes to the referee and most issues are chalked up to a coach/dad being dissatisfied that his wrestler lost.

[oldblazedad]

Hey Jeff what weight did your son wrestle.

I did not see Colin's name in a bracket.

Good tournament and overall good officiating but there is one huge exception. The ref with the brown curly hair that always verbalizes (loudly) his near fall count. This guy is a complete joke when it comes to officiating. I don't get why he is allowed to ref matches after the amount of disputes I see him in at tournaments. This guy makes up the rules as he goes. He stops matches for illegal holds that the rule book clearly shows are 100% legal. He is constantly talking to the kids throughout the match saying stuff like "improve, improve, improve; or "watch that, watch that"; or "careful, slow down" With a higher level wrestler they may ignore him, but I have witnessed many wrestlers putting themselves in bad situations because of his urging to "improve." He almost always calls arm bars and power half's as potentially dangerous. I witnessed one match where one wrestler had the other in a cradle and he was urging the top wrestler to "improve." I saw him call stalling on a top wrestler running a 1/2 while the bottom man was balled up almost fetal position. I saw him call a stalling less than 5 seconds into a match on a final OT ride out. He wants to be seen and "in the match" so to speak, so bad that he is costing kids matches and really upsetting many coaches. I know the other refs see it and heard a few actually talking about how bad he was.

 

And before you say its sour grapes over a loss, it is not. Luckily he did not ref my kids matches and my kid won every match without controversy. This is simply an observation I have made over the past several tournaments where he is a ref. I'm thinking there should be some type of rating system in place to elminate fools like this guy. He really leaves a sour taste.