Monday, January 10, 2011

"Hey Ref... You Missed the Elbow My Kid Threw."

You know it isn't about winning. We won both games this weekend. It isn't about fair calls. It is about controlling the game. The referees this weekend were not calling hits to the neck, head, or back with any regularity. And guess what happened? All the kids picked up their hitting to the level that WASN'T being called. This failure puts all the kids on the ice at risk. The Huskies were guilty for blatant elbows to the head that weren't called as were the other teams. The two games were poorly called and the safety of all the kids was jeopardized. The referees were not doing their job. And you know what... there is nothing we can do about it.

We can't complain. We can't yell. We can't get a small survey card that instructs us to rate the referee's performance. We can sit back and watch hits to the neck, head, and back continue without penalties. As I explore ways to reduce the risk of injury, the more frustrating it becomes at times. It does seem like change is simple but simply is not aggressively addressed. If referees can't call the most harmful hits with consistentancy, what are we left with? The answer is more injured children.

When I hear a coach yell at the referee for missing a blatant hit into the back of a player and the response from the referee is, "SHUT-UP! and mind your players on the bench.", what are we to do?

Parents need to change their voice and speak up and ask for ways to submit complaints directly to the referee association. The good refs need raises and the bad refs need instruction. Why is that so hard to do?

Anyone have an answer?

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