Monday, December 14, 2009

Awards well deserved?

I sat through my local club's AGM. It was the first time I ever did this. May be the last time I ever do this. Some of the awards were, lets say political.

Let's start with the referees.

Adult Rookie of the Year: Okay there was not many candidates out there to choose from considering how many of them sat in the classroom, but I will say, he did earn this one. He got out there and worked the trenches more then any referee and from what I have heard and what I have seen; he did well at it.

Adult Referee of the Year: This really should be an ironman award. He did a lot of games. Probably more then any adult. My problem with this award was while he was active, he was not great. This is a guy who wants to wear the most current socks, even if it doesn't uniform with his assistants. He also doesn't seem to want to listen to constructive criticism to help him improve so he keeps making the same mistakes. One grave mistake he did was letting a game play without the goals being staked. I would hate to be him if the goal fell on an unsuspecting goalkeeper. But when told about it, he was not phased. Give him an ironman award, but in my humble opinion, he doesn't deserve Referee of the Year.

Youth Rookie Referee: The male, he did well mechanically. I was actually pleased with his presence. However, he isn't what I would consider neat. I really have a problem with the white head band.

The female: I know the name but not enough to determine if good or bad so I will let that be.

Youth referee of the year: I really couldn't pick one if it were up to me; male or female. Either their appearance sucked or their work rate did. In many cases, both. My wife would have liked a certain young lady to get it because she does work hard...but on the line. Would like to see her in the middle.

The coaches:

I'm going to start with the most prestigius award in my opinion. This one is after a volunteer who passes away recently and was well regarded by many. When the award was being presented, the presenter was on the verge of tears if that doesn't give you an idea.
The recipient: A very good guy who has done a lot of little things to make them big enough to merit notice. From coaching two teams (which is debatable if he'll do that again, only he knows for sure), serving a committee which may or may not been a waste of time. It was informative for me on his and other member perspective, even if the information was not favorable. He's really good about keeping a positive attitude around the kids, even when his team is getting stomped on by the stacked team. He earned it and I loved his acceptance speech.
One could say it was political because he was up against a stacked team who taunted him with a phony crutch incident, but he was a sport about it and didn't let it get to him like his parents did. Actually he was a bit concerned for the player's well being.

Which brings me to the next award: That went to the father of the player on crutches. Personally I don't think he deserved it. I don't deserve it either, but this guy had to be in on the crutches incident (though he wasn't present at the game because of his U10 Girls). He basically got a stacked team which has been admitted by two of the committee members. I felt the award should have went to the one who won the division, not the cup. He and his team as a whole showed class in the last game my team played him from pregame to post game. Don't have a bad thing to say about him.

But as a final jab, I'm happy to finish the season knowing that my team was the only team he never beat.

Now the Premier coach award in my opinion went to the right guy. For someone looking at him from the exterior point would probably be afraid to approach him. However since I have gotten to know him from my referee class I have know him to be a really great guy. That isn't what got the award. His team took first. His female counterpart took first too. Why didn't she get the award even though she got one last year. Well she's nice too...off the pitch. On the pitch she starts out nice and when things don't go her way, she tends to be not nice. She's not a total bitch, but I remember cautioning a player who committed a tactical foul, injuring herself in the process. I waited until she was standing and leaving before I showed the card. She gave a very sarcastic "Wow!" where I wanted to say, "Ummm did you miss that part in the referee class?" Anyway I have refereed the male coach a couple times now and I never had to worry about his behavior.

The posts may be a bit stale as this is the dead time for soccer, unless you count High School.

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