Zahkary, Kaitlyn, Kassidy

Todays OiA is sponsored by the letter K.

We start of with a couple of examples of in-game dynamic movement. In other words, moving and positioning yourself to keep up with play and be in position to call fouls.  (As opposed to the ref who stays in the centre circle the entire match - don't be THAT guy!).

Example 1. This clip starts with Zahkary watching play. There is a break up the right touch line, watch was Zahkary not only moves with it (breaking into a light jog), but he moves closer. At 15 sec he calls offside and correctly signals it with a whistle and arm straight up. To assist the younger players he moves to the spot of the restart to show where the ball is to be. He then moves downfield and gives himself a wide angle of view. The ball is kicked and he lowers his arm when the ball touches another player. Ball crosses the touchline, he moves closer and indicates direction. Nice sequence! Only feedback is that Zahkary doesn't need to keep his arm up for offside the *entire* time (cause that makes your arm tired). He could call offside and raise the arm, then lower it as he moves to his restart position, then raise it again before the kick. Overall, Well done!

 

Example 2 of in-game dynamic movement. We catch Kaitlyn using a diagonal movement to follow play. The diagram shows her movement.  
At 16 sec as she is heading back up the field, around the center mark, play turns towards her. Kaitlyn does a neat about face and continues moving. This game does not have AR's but Kaitlyn is running a diagonal as if she did have AR's, and because of this she will be well prepared for when she has AR's. A great example of diagonal movement. Well done Kaitlyn!

I think I've written this before, but it bears repeating... I'm always impressed when a young official officiates adults (either as ref or AR). Sometimes, I think people forget the courage and determination it takes for youths to make decisions that affect adults.

Which leads us to Kassidy, a brand new official working her first game as AR. We catch up with Kassidy running down the touchline keeping up with play. Flag is correctly facing the field in her *left* hand. She runs to near the goal line and turns and faces the field. She switches the flag to her *right* hand, which is correct procedure when an AR is facing the field within the penalty area. Kassidy follows play up the touchline and when the ball goes out, she makes a direction signal. The flag should be a bit higher on the signal (think top of flag, top of head), but this is her first AR assignment and the important issue is that she made the signal. Form will follow! Well done Kassidy!