Consider This Scenario ... What Would You Do?
"It would be a lot easier to be the coach of the US team in this situation! If I was the Canadian coach, I think that I would try to get my captain's attention to have him approach the officials to ask about the call. Most of our officials don't want to hear from me, but they will answer questions from our captains that are asked in a respectful way."
- Tonya, Youth Soccer Coach (U16), Portland, OR
"I would immediately try to get the center ref's attention (if I was the coach of the team that was harmed by the call). I would ask him to talk to the linesman who made the offsides call. I'm not going to be able to make them change their call, but perhaps if they talk with each other, they will come to a different decision. They will rarely change their call, but I owe it to my team to do whatever I can to respectfully make sure the referees do all they can to get it right."
- Brendan, High School Soccer Coach, Chicago, IL
"At the youth level we are often coaching games where the referees are kids too. I have to remember that whatever my reaction is in this moment could shape whether or not they want to come out and ref in future years. I've got plenty of people telling me that I need to ref in addition to my coaching, but I don't think I could take the kind of abuse they regularly get during games! Hopefully I can remember this the next time I'm upset with a call."
- Cheryl, Youth Soccer Coach (U8), Port Saint Lucie, FL
"What makes this situation so tough is that my players work so hard in practice that it really hurts to have them lose a game because of a blown call. The refs really need to be held to a high standard. If I was coaching the Canadian team, I would try to find a way to ask the officials/linesman about the call, but I would also be careful, as I would not want to turn them against me/my team, for the rest of the game."
- Catherine, Youth Soccer Coach (U14), Morristown, NJ
"I've had an experience like this one, where my team won a game on a questionable call. After the game I went up to the other coach and shook his hand and congratulated him on a good game. I also shook the referees' hands after the game. Let's hope I would have done the same thing if I had been on the losing side. Actually, a few times I have been on the losing side in this situation, and I have been so angry with the refs that I decided not to shake their hands because I was afraid of what I might say to them. I'm not proud of this, but I did not want to make the situation worse than it already was. At least my captains still shook the refs' hands…"
- Daniel, Youth Soccer Coach (U18), Lynwood, CA