Reffing My First Game

[GrymesGoalie]

I was just asked today to ref a game... tomorrow. I've never reffed a game before.

I know the game pretty well; I played for a while and still watch as often as I can. I know the main calls and procedures, but it's all the technical stuff I'm unsure on.

Ranging from simple things like where I stand and when I blow my whistle to more complex things like what to look for and when to call what and allow what, I'm sort of in the dark.

Could someone (pretty please... with a cherry on top. LOL) kind of give me a crash course on reffing a game?

As far as I know, we're playing by high school rules.

[lehighvalleylax]

Pray for rain.

[bluestreak614]

is this TESlight'emupTES?

[GrymesGoalie]

Pray for rain.

Good call. :rolling:

is this TESlight'emupTES?

Sure is... hahah who's this?

[Woodenstick]

I assume that you are not a certified official, because if you were, your association would have covered this in detail and had you go out a few times with an experienced official. So I will assume that you are not certified and are reffing some low level kids games.

So my first suggestions are:

1. find out what special rules there are for your game.

2. If you are by yourself, go restraining line to restraining line during the game, don't go further down than that.

3. Call the obvious fouls, and don't try to get too fancy.

4. Blow the whistle loudly, or else the players will ignore you.

[GrymesGoalie]

I assume that you are not a certified official, because if you were, your association would have covered this in detail and had you go out a few times with an experienced official. So I will assume that you are not certified and are reffing some low level kids games.

So my first suggestions are:

1. find out what special rules there are for your game.

2. If you are by yourself, go restraining line to restraining line during the game, don't go further down than that.

3. Call the obvious fouls, and don't try to get too fancy.

4. Blow the whistle loudly, or else the players will ignore you.

Nope, I'm actually a sophomore in high school... it's only a middle school game so it's nothing extremely major, but I'm still trying to do as good a job as I can.

1. Okay, I'll try to get a better feel for it tomorrow (I'm on spring break so I'll go to the school early and find out what's up)

2. I'm working with one other person. How should we run?

3. That's what I'm gonna be aiming for. I'm not as worried with the fouls getting called as I am how to go about the penalties (penalty times and whether or not they're NR and things like that).

4. When will I need to whistle? Thinking back on when I played, I don't remember many whistles. I just kinda stopped when the whistle blew and started again when the whistle blew. Other than that, I didn't pay much attention to whistles.

[bluestreak614]

Sure is... hahah who's this?

lol, teamoutcast614, I jump forum to forum

[Woodenstick]

Nope, I'm actually a sophomore in high school... it's only a middle school game so it's nothing extremely major, but I'm still trying to do as good a job as I can.

1. Okay, I'll try to get a better feel for it tomorrow (I'm on spring break so I'll go to the school early and find out what's up)

2. I'm working with one other person. How should we run?

3. That's what I'm gonna be aiming for. I'm not as worried with the fouls getting called as I am how to go about the penalties (penalty times and whether or not they're NR and things like that).

4. When will I need to whistle? Thinking back on when I played, I don't remember many whistles. I just kinda stopped when the whistle blew and started again when the whistle blew. Other than that, I didn't pay much attention to whistles.


No offense, but referees 2 years older than the players is cutting it a little close, especially with no training. Hopefully you are working with an adult who will help you along. It is great that you are trying to get some info before you start. Best of luck.....

If you are working with one other person, you set up diagonally, the lead person goes down to the goal and several yards to one side, and the trail goes to the restraining line/corner of the box on the other side of the field. zlax.net has some excellent diagrams for positioning, check it out.

Technical fouls (except goalie interference and some crease violations) result in possession for the fouled team, if they already have possession, then 30 second penalty. Personal fouls are generally 1 minute and releasable, except spearing and unsportsmanlike and illegal equipment/stick.

You blow the whistle when the ball goes out of bounds, or otherwise to stop play. Then you blow the whistle to start play up again. I am not even going to try to explain play-on and slow whistles. Try to read some of the threads in this forum, especially the stickys, they may be helpful.

[wolfenburg]

One of the biggest problems at the beginning is: when to blow the whistle and when to throw a flag.
In theory it isnt that hard, but since you only have a second to decide it may go wrong very easy...

[LaxRef]

No offense, but referees 2 years older than the players is cutting it a little close, especially with no training.

I'm with you on the "no training" part, but the 2-year age separation rule is the one dictated by US Lacrosse's insurer.

[gclark94]

well, I have not reffed lacrosse, but a problem that I had when I first started reffin basketball was that I was not assurtive. Blow your whistle loud and confidently. Dont wait a few seconds to make the call, do it quickly. Be loud when you make the call.

[flagman]

Dont wait a few seconds to make the call, do it quickly. Be loud when you make the call.

I would caution not to be too quick on the whistle, make sure of your call and don't just react to a play. The most important thing is to have fun and relax.

[GrymesGoalie]

No offense, but referees 2 years older than the players is cutting it a little close, especially with no training. Hopefully you are working with an adult who will help you along. It is great that you are trying to get some info before you start. Best of luck.....

If you are working with one other person, you set up diagonally, the lead person goes down to the goal and several yards to one side, and the trail goes to the restraining line/corner of the box on the other side of the field. zlax.net has some excellent diagrams for positioning, check it out.

Technical fouls (except goalie interference and some crease violations) result in possession for the fouled team, if they already have possession, then 30 second penalty. Personal fouls are generally 1 minute and releasable, except spearing and unsportsmanlike and illegal equipment/stick.

You blow the whistle when the ball goes out of bounds, or otherwise to stop play. Then you blow the whistle to start play up again. I am not even going to try to explain play-on and slow whistles. Try to read some of the threads in this forum, especially the stickys, they may be helpful.

Thanks for your help. :thumbsup:

[laxfan25]

As a new ref you are going to be slow with the whistle as it is. You tend to see an incident, process it in your brain (was that a foul? what kind of foul? etc) and then attempt to blow the whistle. Meanwhile the players have moved on and you have a whole new set of visual inputs flooding your brain, and you decide to not blow the whistle on the first incident. This is what gets new refs into trouble and how they can quickly lose control of a game.

The other challenge for the new zebra, even those that have played the game, is the mechanics of reffing. Where do I go? After I blow the whistle - now what? Where do I restart the players? Is that a 30 second or 1 minute penalty? Is that a free clear? etc, etc , etc.
I appreciate your jumping in to help - don't get discouraged. EVERYONE coming off the field when reffing their first game says - "This is a LOT harder than it looks!"