A little under 2 years ago, I was asked to head the mentoring of referees. To make them better. I saw it as a challenge as I knew I had a lot of work to do. The first year, I saw vast improvement on dress and appearance. I saw referees, not all, but most referees be on time and dressed appropriately.
Problem is you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make them drink. I lead a bunch of horses, young and old, but they insist on doing what they want, not what is right.
The beginning year two, we didn't even have a clinic and the one local clinic which would have really benefited more then what I brought to the table I will gamble maybe one or two were there. Even with the new material that I had possessed, there was no interest in getting a room. We had a referee coordinator...by name only. Where was he throughout the season? It got so bad on his part that other board members were stepping in to do his job. Pretty sad and not a legacy I would want to leave behind.
What happened during his absence? Very few referees dressed appropriately. If that was the worse issue, it could be cleaned up. However, referees, particularly in the youth, were not putting in the effort. Bad calls happen. It's a fact of the game. However if you are say watching two of the three goals happen and the referee is on the other side of the half-way line, not even running, it's a problem.
Now I am being asked to join a referee committee. From the sounds of things they want to eliminate the referee coordinator position and have others post on the board. I'm not certain how that is going to improve things, but it does beat hammering your own hand, realizing it hurts, but hammering it again, not learning the first lesson.
Here's hoping.
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