|
South Texas Soccer Referees, Inc. |
|
South Texas Soccer Referees, Inc. |
April 21, 2007
I have recently had the opportunity to attend General Meetings for South Texas Youth Soccer Association, US Youth Soccer Association, and the Texas State Soccer Association-South, as well as meet with referees in two of the Districts.
1. The STYSA GM was held in South Padre Island February 9-11. I want to thank the local referees from Brownsville and Harlingen (District 4) for their time and support. We were graciously received by Ed Loucks, President of STYSA and his Board of Directors, as well as all the player association representatives. STSR presented a discussion on Sunday morning to interested youth representatives on STSR. In addition, STSR was the host of Jump Start, a program in development by US Soccer Referee Program. This included hosting an entry level clinic, assignor clinic, and instructor clinic. Representatives from US Soccer who attended and instructed in the Jump Start courses included Julie Ilacqua (Managing Director of Referee Programs), Alfred Kleinaitis (Manager of Referee Development and Instruction), Holly Hollingsworth, Sandra Hunt (former FIFA referee), and Randall Reyes.
2. The USYSA GM was held in St Louis February 28-March 4th. Also in attendance from STSR were our SYRA and the Operations Manager. Sessions relevant to the referee program included "Current Law Changes and Points of Emphasis" by Alfred Kleinaitis, "Characteristics of the Assistant Referee" by George Gansner, and an informational session regarding on-line automated background checks. Also, I attended another session of the Ad Hoc SRA meeting as a follow-up to last December. Results of some of the previous initiatives were discussed; we learned that US Soccer was in the process of developing systems for on-line instruction, which had been a major topic of the SRAs previously.
3. The TSSAS Semi-Annual GM was held in San Antonio March 24. Mr. Pascal Piazza, President, thanked STSR for its presence. I gave a brief presentation regarding a number of initiatives undertaken by STSR and the SRC, including recruitment of new referees for the adult leagues. The TSSAS Board of Directors reiterated their support for referees who are the victims of abuse or threat, and vowed to continue to discipline their affiliated members who commit an act of abuse or threat. A request was made by President Piazza to include information at each referee clinic regarding the process in reporting these incidents, as well as the names and contact information for the Association. This request will be part of the fall 2007 clinic instructions.
4. Thanks to the members of Capital Area Soccer Referees Association (District 3) who allowed me time at their April meeting to discuss some of the issues facing STSR, and who also gave me the opportunity to do a little instruction as well.
5. Last week, I was able to spend some time in El Paso with District 5 referees as part of the Pro Clinic and Associate Assessor clinic. I would like to thank all those in El Paso who made my brief stay so enjoyable. I look forward to the next opportunity I have to visit District 5.
6. Our progress on the on-line database continues, although I believe we can improve our response time. I will be presenting information at the SRC in regards to improvements in our registration processes that I think will benefit the individual STSR member. I know the progress has been slow, and I appreciate every STSR member for their understanding and support. I strongly encourage everyone to log in at www.stsrref.org to review their personal contact information. It is critical that we have accurate address and available email information so that we can keep the referee up to date with the online system registration. I ask that every referee share this information with those in STSR who may not yet know of the online database. As of now, we have approximately 3300 corrected registration files in the database. Lists of registered referees are available at the website.
7. At every event I have attended, I have heard nothing but compliments regarding the referees, and the referee program. I applaud all of our members who contribute in their on-going efforts to support The Beautiful Game.
Steve Eells
State Referee Administrator
South Texas Soccer Referees, Inc.
South Texas Soccer Referees
Home
News
Clinics
Forms
Links
Contacts
Send mail to webmaster@stsr.org
with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: April 26, 2007
