Thanks for the great comments. I always appreciate feedback from the U8 coaches. I've cc'd Pete Chiste (PTSA President) and Steve Glovier (Referee Coordinator). I've also cc'd the rest of the U8 coaches.
First, let me say that I greatly appreciate all the volunteer time you guys put into the season. I can never say this enough. It is a lot of work and I understand your issues and concerns. So, please understand that PTSA is grateful for your time.
I also know that the emails that come flying your way can become overwhelming. There are a lot of responsibilities for a coach and it can become difficult and confusing. I agree that setting the right "tone" is important, but it is often difficult in emails. Emails like Steve's can come off harsher than what I think he was suggesting.
Again, thank you for your comments. And thank you for your time and efforts.
--Tony
Hi Tony,
I know this is my first time coaching and I am not one to be critical of others but I really feel I need to provide some feedback here to you. I am not sure if your other coaches have responded so I will wait to hear back from you but I felt compelled to provide a response to all of the e-mails I am getting and the tone of them.
I, just like Steve signed up because I wanted to help and you explained to me the shortage of coaches. I like you and most of the other coaches work full time and I still find time to coordinate practices and coach games.
However when I see e-mails like this and the e-mail a few weeks ago about the alleged harsh treatment that some of the refs got, I guess I feel that I need to provide our feedback.
Its hard enough time to manage all of the aspects of coaching and watching our kids, now Steve feels we have some additional obligation to coordinate travel or supervision for referees, and I understand they are kids but at what point do we as coaches stop getting these very negative comments for things we supposedly did wrong. I am sorry no one stayed to help the refs but enough is enough on this. I understand the need not to yell at them and to provide positive support and I understand Steve has his hands full but so do most us and I am doing the best I can. I have to tell you that if this is what the Peters Township coaches are going to keep hearing from you and others than I would not want to volunteer again and I definitely will not recommend coaching to other friends.
I love coaching and I want to volunteer but I will not continue to be treated like this and I do feel that others that volunteer for you feel the same way.
Brandon Barnett
From: Anthony Belfiore [mailto:abelfiore@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 5:05 PMSubject: Fwd: feedback from referee/parents/coordinator to coaches
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steve Glovier PTSA <sglovierptsa@verizon.net>
Date: Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 4:44 PM
Subject: feedback from referee/parents/coordinator to coachesCommissioners,
Can you please forward this on to the coaches?
Thank you.
Steve Glovier
PTSA Referee Coordinator
Each week one or more of the coaches provides me with appropriate feedback on the conduct of the referees; and sometimes provides suggestions as to how we can improve the referee's performance. We appreciate this feedback and we pass this feedback on to the referees and try to stress points that the coaches are trying to convey to them.
This past week I asked the referees to provide us with feedback for the coaches. We received 1 from the referees, 1 from a referee's parent and 1 from me (the referee coordinator).
Referee Feedback - Can the coaches please stay back (3 feet would be great) off of the touchline so that the referees can run the touchline and see up and down the touchline.
Referee Parent Feedback - When the lightening storms rolled in on Saturday afternoon and the games were postponed and/or cancelled - all of the coaches and parents of the players left the area, leaving the youth referees to fend for themselves (until their parents/rides could pick them up). It would have been nice for one of the coaches to stay behind and make sure the referees were safe.
Referee Coordinator Feedback - I took this job last fall with the naive perspective that my responsibility was to schedule referees to work games - there are 118 referees with ~90 referee slots to fill every weekend - so I thought scheduling would be my primary effort. But as it turns out I am also a mentor to the referees, which means I had to not only become a referee, but work games, so that I could relate to the referees and actually help them. And some people think I'm also supposed to train all 118 referees so that when they step on to their 1st U-8 game they are capable of making all appropriate calls and 'running' a soccer game - that expectation is a little too high . . . .
For the U-8 and U-10 in-house games, clearly one of the problems with the referees is their lack of call making - they feel it is easier to not make a call - this is often lack of confidence. Since we can't work with 118 referees (40 brand new ones) 1-on-1, we will start to ask the new referees to make at least 1 penalty call each 30 minutes of play - 2 per game. This might mean that in the beginning they might call a 'push' when the player just slipped and grabbed someone to keep from falling . . . so please be patient . . . . if we get them making calls and blowing their whistles, please don't then jump on them for making a wrong call - this is actually a part of their learning process.
Telling young referees that they need to be more confident, or constantly telling them to blow their whistle louder, won't necessarily help them become more confident. Confidence is built over time, with positive experiences.
Thank you for your assistance and patience.
Steve Glovier
PTSA Referee Coordinator
