One man mechanics question.

[Vector_Joe]

I was just going over the one man mechanics pdf and I just wanted to make sure I am reading it right.

When doing one man, in settled situations, you should be at the top of the box on the far side (opposite benches), not down at the goal line?

[rilax]

Yea you need to be in position to get to the other half of the field in case of transitions. (BTW 1 man sucks)

[LaxRef]

When doing one man, in settled situations, you should be at the top of the box on the far side (opposite benches), not down at the goal line?

Exactly. As Rilax says, you need to be able to get back and cover the other goal, so you run top of box to top of box on the far side of the field. You obviously can't catch everything in a one-man game, so you just do the best you can. Even in a two-man game you'll miss some offsides and sub infractions. In a one-man game, you can't even catch much of the off-the-ball stuff, and you can't even call the far sideline and the endlines very well. And, as you note, you can't be on the goal line, so you just call it the best you can from the top of the box.

IMHO, one-man is only appropriate for high school JV and lower when there aren't enough officials available, or maybe for a higher level game if your partner can't make it because of an emergency. Also, I don't think anyone should do a one-man game before maybe the end of their third year.

[Vector_Joe]

IMHO, one-man is only appropriate for high school JV and lower when there aren't enough officials available, or maybe for a higher level game if your partner can't make it because of an emergency. Also, I don't think anyone should do a one-man game before maybe the end of their third year.

Yeah, this is my first year and it looks like we only have about 70 officials for the whole state of Illinois (42 schools/104 teams/more than 600 games). The assignors try and get 2 men to every game, but they said last year, roughly half the games were one man games (with much emphasis on making the Varsity games 2 man). This year about 45 of the officals are in their 1st or 2nd year (only about 25 with more than 2 years experience). So hopefully we will have a lot more 2 ref games this year.

[LaxRef]

Yeah, this is my first year and it looks like we only have about 70 officials for the whole state of Illinois (42 schools/104 teams/more than 600 games). The assignors try and get 2 men to every game, but they said last year, roughly half the games were one man games (with much emphasis on making the Varsity games 2 man). This year about 45 of the officals are in their 1st or 2nd year (only about 25 with more than 2 years experience). So hopefully we will have a lot more 2 ref games this year.

I also think you should always have at least one official with more than 2 years of experience in each game--preferably 3--but I understand that doesn't always work. But it's key for the new guys to not feel like they're being hung out to dry, working alone or with other new guys, because then they tend to have lousy experiences and quit. When that happens, you're perpetually breaking in new guys and the officiating shortage and the level of officiating never get any better.

Anyway, good luck this season, and I hope you get all 2-man games.