My National Referee Clinic

What a great weekend. Up before dawn, six hours of flight time,� two hours of lay-overs, and a three hour time change.� Then I find I'm rooming with a Peruvian from South Carolina and a lawyer from Tennessee.� I'm the last in the room so I get the cot of death.� First thing after checking in, is pictures in our jacket and tie, � getting some goodies from our sponsor Official Sports, then a two and a half hour session that takes us past midnight eastern time. After that, I can't sleep without worrying about the weekend ahead and studying for the 6:30am certification exam. � ��

The exam was a breeze,� "You have an hour an a half to write the Laws of the Game and all of the International Board Decisions.� You may begin now."��� A short break later, it's off to the track for the FIFA physical fitness test.

As you may already know, the FIFA Cooper test is a 50 meter dash, followed by a 200 meter dash, then do the 50 again, then the 200 one more time, wait 15 minutes and try to run at least 6 and 3/4 laps in 12 minutes.� All have minimum times or distance, come in over any of those times and you get to do it all over again on Sunday. � Fun, fun.� But we manage to surmount the obstacles and continue on.

Lots of lectures.�One on time wasting showed how time can be so easily lost by keepers, injuries, and substitutions.� Dinner by the pool with the New Jersey contingent then crash.� Still not used to the time change.

Saturday morning are more sessions on MLS Goals and Objectives for the coming year and great talks by Fernando Alvarez, Lars Bjorck, and Dr. Edgardo Codesal, "CONCACAF is only looking for Excellence."�

The afternoon was picture time. Never saw so many black shirts in one place. The rest of the afternoon is spent with our FIFA panel referees conducting field sessions on 4th officials, professionalism for professional games and Referee-AR cooperation. � I think it was one of the best parts of the clinic.

Sunday morning is the retest for the physical.� The camaraderie shown as everyone pulls together to push the retakers is inspiring.�� This really is a family, or maybe a tribe, the way we whoop, holler and chant.� Whatever this is, everyone looks out for each other.

�The morning ends with the presentation of the 2000 National Referee Badge to the rookie referees.� Mine is the second presented due to my natural athleticism, superior intellect, and the fact that my last name starts with an A.� It was such a rush to be given the badge by Esse Baharmast, the director of the National Referee Program.

���� I left for California a candidate, but came home a National Referee.� Pretty cool.��

For the official USSF take on the camp look here

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