Bad Temper

I believe the best platform for young referees to develop their skills is actually in middle school or JV soccer games. These games often use the dual referee system, where two referees work together as co-centers. As a young referee, you get the chance to observe how more experienced officials manage the game, control its pace, and make calls in real time under the same conditions. Honestly, over the past few years, I’ve gained a lot of valuable experience through these types of matches.

When I first started officiating, I was always eager for the assignor to give me higher-paying, higher-level games. But at the time, I lacked the experience and the ability to handle unexpected situations. I remember one time during an NAL league match, I issued a red card to a player for deliberately handling the ball to stop a quick free kick. After the match, I was in a rush to get to my next game and didn’t take the match report seriously. I just quickly circled a code on the report carelessly, not realizing that I had marked the offense as violent conduct. As a result, the assignor lost trust in me and canceled the remaining games he had scheduled for me. That was a hard lesson for me.

Now that I’m in North Carolina, even though I feel confident in my ability to officiate higher-level matches, I’ve told the assignor that I want to ease in and start with lower-level games to get familiar with the new environment. With time and experience, I know the assignor will naturally assign me to more challenging matches. For now, my goal is to officiate the lower-level games with a high standard and work on controlling my temper, as I have a tendency to get heated and argue with others.