So, I had, well, best described as a crack assessment team for two tournament games on consecutive days. I also had brilliant academy ARs in the first more difficult game. There were 4 other refs also getting the video treatment, all more experienced than me and all better than me - certainly on this showing.
Basically I tanked. I was overly officious, fidgety, fought the wrong battles, made some howlers and interfered too much. I didn't even do basic free kick mgmt properly. The good part is that it was easy to identify one trait that is an instant tell versus better refs - I am often doing 2-3 things at once - gesturing this, while walking, a saying something, possibly to no-one in particular. It just looks odd and unnecessary and is sooo easy to spot on video!
The errors were really annoying. I think I misjudged the teams, new job week, a bit nervous with my peers and wanting to make an impression - and it went south in the first game. A poor advantage, a shirt pull the wrong way, a phantom foul late whistle on the touchline, a painful rake not seen but heard and not given, a quick free quick from the wrong place leading to goal, a soft yellow for a player with champions league experience! The whole package was - argh! Normally I have 2-3 decisions a game I would question, maybe soft or missed... but here I am over 10 well, mistakes. The second game was better, and I already tried to cut down on the mixed signals but I started with a bad foul decision which of course made match control an uphill battle. In the end, in these two games I was not a smart referee. Picture me, 5 mins in, trying to get an offside IDFK taken a few m closer to the active point, 20 m from the AR's flag... totally pointless... wrong battle, in front of the promotion committee! Nooo!
Other little things, how to head off players for warnings/sanctions by predicting where they will retreat.
Even though I anticipate and move a lot, fast, there are still some times when I pause as e.g. the shallow ball is played when I should take an extra 10m run.
But back to the positives... I don't think vASS would have necessarily helped me after 2-3 years as I didn't have it remotely together. But now, in year 6, I have the tools let's say, and it has helped me understand how I need to focus and calmly do one thing at a time - and not overly interfere. It's like, in the last few years, communication with players has grown and grown and been the thing - but now it's too much. Leave them alone until you have to.
The video showed how I was, well, too droning - I was active in too constant a way - so when I did need to do something sharp, stage a warning or interfere it wasn't an effective peak. I also don't do the peaks sharp enough - not enough edge in the body language etc at the right time. I'm naturally a shy lank and feel 10 years younger and more naive than the players even though I'm 10 years older most of the time - so I'm method acting!
So yeah... awesome but approach with caution!
