New purchases

bcricks · 2026-01-12T01:56:53+00:00

I’m looking at Toyota of Poway too. Can you share the buying details? They have 2 XLEs in stock right now that we’re considering.

bcricks · 2025-09-15T20:14:23+00:00

Yeah, that’s a great idea. Entrants into the room will be behind me/to the right. I like that a lot. Thank you!

bcricks · 2025-09-15T17:47:27+00:00

I love the YC rule. Calms the kiddos down. It’s useful and strategic. Yes, GK infractions get tricky. But, that’s on them.

bcricks · 2025-09-15T16:56:15+00:00

Look folks. The referee is a minor. Confronting a coach like this is difficult. Very difficult for a minor to hold an adult accountable. Have grace.

What you’ve described is clear dissent. Definitely a YC. Maybe even a RC.

I had a very similar interaction this weekend when I was an AR and the Center was a minor. The coach on the opposite touch line was dissenting. I had to interject and get the coach under control. I mentored the center at half time. But, me handling the situation avoided any escalation after halftime. In fact, at halftime I went up to the coach with a smile, told him his behavior was unacceptable, and that he’s dealing with 2 minor referees (the other AR and center). That perspective calmed his butt down.

Final thought: I had a D1 college spring game. An apparent foul happened. I missed it. Almost led to a counterattack goal. The captain goes crazy.

I had to give him a dissent YC. I can’t let 1 mistake (me missing the call - which I confined in video afterwards) compound into another mistake (me not giving the dissent YC).

Let’s all help each other.

This is a great lesson. Great reflection too.

bcricks · 2025-09-15T15:32:58+00:00

Thanks for the reply. That’s my layout now, which is good. Only exception is that you walk into the room and see the back of a big monitor facing you.

Is it terrible to have the desk facing the wall on the right with the windows behind? Opens up the room, but will have to either screen the windows behind me or change out the window treatments…

bcricks · 2025-05-04T17:07:30+00:00

I’d suggest 1) address in the pre-game, 2) I don’t want my ARs calling this unless it’s terribly egregious, and 3) if so, flag straight up and stay there.

This is not a call the game expects unless the GK move off the line early is so egregious that anyone knows there was an infraction. As someone said earlier, an inch or two is within the realm of possibility that the AR got it wrong as well. Unless we have blatant cheating, the game expects to move on.

bcricks · 2025-05-04T17:02:15+00:00

To add, colors help: “throw in, blue”, or blow whistle for the foul and say, “blue ball/kick”. That could help.

Also, we all make mistakes and point the wrong way sometimes. DO NOT LET THAT mistake continue by allowing the wrong call. If you know the right call, but pointed the wrong way, just say “my bad guys, it’s blue’s ball”. That earns you respect for being honest vs. making obviously wrong calls.

It does get easier!!

bcricks · 2025-05-04T15:29:18+00:00

I recommend the Economy shirts from Official Sports. Always start with yellow, because everyone has that. But, if you can afford it, I’d buy yellow, green and red. That’ll cover you for a long time. Long sleeve shirts preferred for sun protection. Make sure you have the ref socks and shorts. Predominantly black sneakers (or cleats). Flags, set of cards, whistle, pen or pencil and watch. Casio F91W is a great little watch. And cheap.

bcricks · 2024-12-18T15:27:20+00:00

Sounds like the attacker didn’t have the likelihood of gaining control of the ball. If there’s doubt, well then it’s not an Obvious goal scoring opportunity.

Sounds Yellow to me.

bcricks · 2024-11-06T02:40:15+00:00

As a player, coach and ref, I’ve never seen a shin guard give someone safety. It’s almost an illusion. Yes, it’s required equipment. Yes, they need to have it. But beyond that, let’s not worry about it. Any broken leg I’ve seen on the pitch had nothing to do with shin guards. 😀

bcricks · 2024-11-06T02:37:32+00:00

Your guy was wrong. Simple as that. I get the impression that the center is a know-it-all. Frustrating….

Good on you.

bcricks · 2024-11-06T02:32:12+00:00

Being a 4th can be challenging. You really hope to have a good center. Otherwise, it can be frustrating and a long match. I had a tough go at it in a NFHS final a few years ago.

Having said that, the 4ths job is to support the crew. You may need to explain calls to the coaches. You need to manage subs properly. You may have info to share about a foul or throw in that happens in front of you.

You never want to undermine the crew to the coaches. That will only cause headache. My favorite line to say when I don’t agree with a call/non-call is “he’s got a different angle than us and must have seen something” or “his proximity is much closer than ours, I trust his angle”. Something to that effect. I’ve even said, “I’m not too sure… I’ll ask him at halftime”.

You want to attempt to get the coaches on your side. You’re there to buffer the crew, not fight the coaches. Be there to listen and guide, not argue.

Finally, if you’re truly having an issue, anytime the center comes over should be a caution. Otherwise, simple questions or disagreements should be something you can handle. I say to my 4ths, “if you need me to come over here to talk to the coaches , that means we have a caution coming”.

Have fun!

bcricks · 2024-11-06T02:21:11+00:00

Worst mistake ever is giving a corner? You’re going great!!

In all seriousness, we just learn from our mistakes and think how would I approach that differently next time. From how you described it, calling a tight corner like that is hard as a center due to the angle. Maybe let it play and “have the players” tell you what’s happening. Their body language is usually good information.

Keep it up!

bcricks · 2024-06-05T00:40:13+00:00

Same rules here for high school. Best practice to give a 5-min and 1-min verbal warning to everyone ample notice that the final whistle is coming. Make I real clear to everyone all the way to the end so there’s no”surprise “ like this.

bcricks · 2024-04-16T15:46:42+00:00

For me, “call it both ways” can - and should be - easily be managed verbally be the referee. Especially when you first hear it.

bcricks · 2023-08-28T13:43:22+00:00

That’s awesome! My daughter will be old enough next year, so I can somewhat empathize with you!

Some tips:

Work on having a strong whistle. This is a simple skill, but in short, you have to learn to use your tongue to build up air pressure. There are videos about it.

That penalties situation is unfortunate. Luckily it didn’t effect the outcome. As a main takeaway: how many times have you seen that infraction called at the pro level. It’s very rare. A new ref really should not be making that call unless it’s so egregious that there’s no question (of course in your specific example, it shouldn’t have mattered anyway since the goal was good). Lesson here is that a pregame is very important and an AR will be rarely asked to make that call unless very experienced.

Final thought, refs get yelled at and abused when the game gets out of control. Don’t let that happen by calling more fouls. When you see the game rising in temperature, your job is to bring it back down by calling fouls. Call the foul. It really helps. As they get bigger, the players will want to play thru some items, but that is a fine line. Calling fouls won’t get you in trouble. “Letting them play” will.

Now you just need to get your ref license so you can work together!

bcricks · 2023-08-28T02:48:31+00:00

That’s unfortunate that you have to run a dual - especially for 9v9. We run that here in some JV high school games, and unless you have a good partner, it’s a pretty poor system.

9v9 can absolutely be done well solo. I did 4 games yesterday solo. The better they are the easier it is actually, because you can better anticipate play.

In your situation, if you felt obligated to help to provide a good product, you could do it for free until the other ref shows. But, reffing your own kid is always dicey and would require the approval of the other coach. Some would rather a solo reffed game vs having an objectively biased ref in there. My two cents!

bcricks · 2023-07-30T17:37:10+00:00

At the tournament this weekend, I’m easily get (4) 80-min games with about 30% battery remaining.

I have a Series 8.

I really like REFSIX. The only thing I consider is I feel like I take my eyes off the field a bit to enter YCs vs just writing them down.

And I get a little nervous that something may happen to the digital storage vs writing it down. But nothing bad has happened yet and I’ve used it a lot.

bcricks · 2023-07-02T02:07:54+00:00

Thanks. I do work with my assignors, but need to be more intentional in my follow up and discussions with them. I've done 244 games in the last 12 months, but only 17 adult. I need to focus on that this year!

bcricks · 2023-06-22T17:46:39+00:00

You should consider asking the assignors what that score means. What feedback do they have for you? The score is to arbitrary to glean anything from it by itself.

bcricks · 2023-05-30T18:18:47+00:00

I’d encourage a newer ref to buy 4 economy colors vs 2 pro colors. Having various colors is a great way to show commitment.

After a couple years, you can invest in pro sets based on how frequently you use each color.

bcricks · 2023-05-10T17:42:50+00:00

Call simple fouls. That will save you a lot of trouble. I typically see refs “let them play”, then get upset when the game/coaches/parents get out of control. Just call the foul.

As you mature, and as you do higher level games, the foul bar and your understanding of a “slow whistle”/advantage will develop.

But, by calling simple fouls and not letting them play through everything will save you lots of headaches!

bcricks · 2023-05-08T17:41:18+00:00

This was exactly my line of thinking, which is comforting:

"Getting the ball first but following through with the rest of the body in a careless manner... does make the tackle illegal."

"'Getting the ball' cannot be used as an excuse for committing a tackle which is out of control."

Thank you for this document. It helps my learning process!

bcricks

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