How is your cheering perceived?

Here are some ways to gain a new perspective.  Once you try a new perspective, ask yourself how you want to be perceived.  Sometimes the pot calls the kettle black.

• Step back and listen to the crowd.  If you can't objectively do this, attend another team's game, where you don't know the players/parents, and listen to the crowd.
  Are the cheers something in which you would be proud?  Is this a positive experience for your child?
   
• Look it up. When you disagree with a call, go look up the rule before you express you opinion to the ref.  Several resources are provided on the Links page.  Offside is a great place to start.  Then try shoulder to shoulder contact.
           Laws of the Game - the official website for refs includes: rules, interpretations and a question forum.
           Soccer Help.com - rules and opinions on coaching and refereeing.
           Ask the Ref.com - rules and question forum
   
• Become knowledgeable.  Get to know the rules.  Be able to quote the rule book.  Take the SAY Soccer referee training.  It involves reading the rule book, taking an afternoon of training and taking a test.  If you pass, you are eligible to start refereeing 1st & 2nd grade games.  In 1st & 2nd grade, they're not yelling at refs yet.  See Jeff Jackson in Terrace Park, Phil Stevens in Mariemont or Rene Henderson in Fairfax.
   
• 'Walk a mile'.  Take the next step and actually become a ref.  The game needs good referees.  You can make a difference. This quote came from a local referee qualified to ref at the high school level.
  "I consider myself to be fairly intelligent.  I graduated from a good college and law school.  I am a successful practicing attorney.  I make sound decisions everyday.  I have spent countless hours studying and training on the rules of soccer.  But, when I first stepped out on the soccer field and made a call that the crowd didn't understand, you would have thought that I was a complete idiot.  I still do it because I love the game." 
  What are the odds that the fan yelling:
        a) has never looked at a rule book
        b) had a different angle of view
        c) was 75-120 yards further away
   
• Ask your child what attracts them to soccer.  Football has bigger crowds.  Golf has less running.  Cross Country has girls.  If the answer is "love of the game", ask them if focusing on the ref makes the game any more fun.

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