Located just 20-minutes from downtown Chicago, Rosemont is a town with no shortage of entertainment options. In addition to music venues, top-notch restaurants and the Muvico movie theater, The Park at Rosemont is an eclectic entertainment district that features lively bars and restaurants with live music, casual dining, bowling, and outdoor patios. Plus, Rosemont is just minutes from O’Hare International Airport so you can enjoy an easy and convenient arrival.

George Noujaim, Director, NISOA National Referee Academy Program

Moving forward with our mission and vision to serve the collegiate game, the NISOA National Referee Academy certification, and recertification has taken a monumental step forward to serve our customers.  We are looking at multiple sites in the country to minimize travel, and expenses to participating referees, and instructors. The program will consist of a one day yearly program aimed at the qualified referees according to policy.  Qualified referees will earn a national “current year badge” at the conclusion of the session when all the requirements listed in the National policy are met.  I am looking forward to your participation.

Best regards,

George Noujaim, Director

NISOA National Referee Academy Program

2012 National Referee Academy Program Highlights

• One day clinics located throughout the country between June 2, 2012 and August 5, 2012 at central locations
• Clinic Fee reduced to $50
• Applicant Fee $75;
• Program Renewal Fee-$40.
• Assessments reduced to 1 as a Referee, and 1 as an AR, annually
• Online testing & registration
• PPT test prior to clinic if possible
• Deleted Candidate status
• Instruction aimed at National Referees primarily thru video clips

Nick Cinquanto 1949-2012

It is with a very heavy heart that Manny Ortiz, Jr. President of NISOA, must  inform you that Nick Cinquanto, Regional Representative Region III, NCAA Post Season assignor, and major conference assignor has passed away.  Nick was a great supporter of NISOA and an individual who worked diligently with all officials to help them reach their goals. Most importantly Nick was a committed family man who loved his wife and children.  He was a firm believer of the NISOA philosophy of family first. The entire NISOA Executive Board and membership extend their deepest sympathy, prayers and support to his wife, Vickie, and his family. Nick Cinquanto’s Life Celebration will be Thursday evening, January 26, 2012 from 6pm to 8pm at:

Galzerano Funeral Home
9304 Old Bustleton Ave.,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 19115

and also Friday morning, January 27, 2012 from 8:30am to 10:00am followed by his Funeral Mass 11:00am  at:

Our Lady of Grace R.C. Church
225 Bellevue Ave.,
Penndel, Pa.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in Nick’s name to the Germantown Academy Baseball Program, 340 Morris Rd., Fort Washington, Pa. 19034-0287. Family service by Dunn-Givnish of Langhorne.

As part of the NISOA National Referee Program (NRP), all National Referees and National Referee Candidates are required to be assessed each year in order to maintain or receive their National Referee badges. Also, as part of the NISOA Assessment Program, all Regional and National Assessors who have assessed a National Referee or NR Candidate are instructed to send these assessments to the Referee who is being assessed, to the NISOA Director of Assessment, their Regional Area Representative, their Chapter Assessment Coordinator and to the Assessment Study Chair within 7-10 days of the assessment.

These assessments, when reviewed, can provide feedback on their capability while providing the official with areas of improvement and suggestions to improve their overall abilities.  Also, these assessments are used to assist assignors as to what level of game these referees may or may not be capable of officiating in regard to NCAA Soccer games.

As the NISOA Study Chair, I was to be sent these NRP assessments and was asked to produce a report with substantiating evidence on the status of our National Referee Program.  This year, there were 427 assessments that were sent to me for analysis.  The report submitted provided a summary of the scores that the officials received in their assessments.  In addition, it was also broken down into two areas of review, Referee Improvement and Critical Rules Applications.  Here are the general findings from these assessments.

SCORING SUMMARY

For those familiar with the format of the NRP Assessment form, besides 25 areas that they are judged on, there are also 6 areas for scoring.  Each has it’s own maximum score that should total 100 points.  They are listed below by category, total score possible and the average over all assessments.

NISOA NRP Assessment Score Summary (click for full size)

As you can see, our National Referees and NRP Candidates scored an average of 83.7 points out of a possible of 100 which is considered above average. (The lowest total scores awarded was a 61 and the highest a 98).  This would appear to say that our top officials perform well overall.

That said, looking at the 6 category averages, when you factor in that most games were ranked as generally easy (67.5%) by the assessors, we see that Foul Recognition produced the lowest score of 66.5%. This is an area of concern in that it appears that we have a difficult time recognizing fouls, according to our Assessors.

WHAT SHOULD WE WORK ON

Looking through the individual assessments, a few areas stand out where we suggest need more attention and improvement.  They are broken down into two primary areas, Referee Improvement and Critical Rules Applications.  Listed below are the points of focus in each.

Referee Improvement

1. Positioning-Keeping dynamic play between the Center and AR’s and not turning your back to the AR’s.  Also, stay out of passing lanes!

2. Addressing or dealing with foul language.  We are not dealing with it!

3. Proper clock management, knowing when and when not to stop the clock.

4. Managing the technical and bench area/coaches dissent properly.

5. Know the rules!  Confusing the NCAA rules with the USSF/FIFA laws.

Besides addressing Referee Improvement, another area of concern is centered around what we call Critical Rules Applications.  This involves officials not knowing the rules, not understanding the differences between NCAA and USSF rules, their application and the reasons for the difference.  The top four areas that need attention in this area are:

Critical Rules Applications

1.  Proper application of drop ball or IFK when foul is called in PA with or without goalkeeper in possession.

2. Correct application of substitution rules when injuries and/or blood occur with or without sanctions.

3. Post-season feedback-understand Kicks from the Mark rules, I.E. who can take kicks in OT.

4. Uniform issues – keepers not wearing proper uniforms, socks, numbers required, etc.

NISOA and the National Referee Program will be addressing these things this coming year at both the local chapter meetings as well as at the National Referee Camps.   The NISOA Assessment Program, led by Gary Huber, will be addressing this feedback with the NRP Assessors too. Look back over your own assessments and see if these ring true for you.  We trust you are working on them.  And if you haven’t been assessed in a while, maybe you should look at getting one this year.   All in all, as NISOA certified officials, we owe it to the coaches and players, as well as, to ourselves to be the best we can be and the best way to improve is thru assessment.

Field Training at the NISOA Referee Training Camp

NISOA is now accepting online applications for the 2012 Referee Training Camp in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania from July 8, 2012 through July 12, 2012. Various scholarships and grants are available for applicants as indicated on the application form.

The NISOA Referee Training Camp is a unique, four day residential training program that focuses on improving soccer referees at the interscholastic and intercollegiate levels.

Please note: You will be required to provide your email address to Albertsons Community Partners for this challenge, if you choose to participate.

• Potential for more protests grow with careless follow-up procedures…
• Quick actions needed at all levels…

C. Cliff McCrath

The season is well underway and profiles (in power ratings) are beginning to take shape throughout men’s and women’s soccer. Without naming schools, the usual suspects are beginning to rise to their accustomed top spots giving Fantasy Players a leg up, so to speak, on their early season ‘picks’. (I know, I know…college soccer is not in that culture – YET…so accept it as a figure of speech.) In any event, these comments are meant as mere attention-getters. Now that I have your attention, the real reason for this blog is to put the SPOTLIGHT of a serious issue that has already surfaced in several areas and, if not corrected PRONTO, potentially, has grave consequences. The problem? Referees AND Regional Reps are not following-through with the requirements set forth in Rule 12.6.1.1 Read, below, an actual excerpt – from an athletic director – from a game already played:

“Also, as per rule 12.6.1.1 pages 74 and 75, the regional representative was supposed to have notified me, the athletic director, within 48 hours and informed me of the fighting ejections.  This never happened until my office solicited the information yesterday, September 12, 2011, clearly beyond the 48 hour period (the date of the ejections was September 3).  Should I have been notified on a timely basis, I can assure you that I would have kept our student athlete from participating in the subsequent (second) game.

Clearly, the issue here is the failure of the referee to contact the NISOA Regional Rep who, within 48 hours, SHALL contact the Athletic Director(s) of the respective schools to inform them that a FIGHTING EJECTION had occurred. Failure to do so can jeopardize a player’s future eligibility; more importantly, it can lead to his/her school forfeiting future games. RULE 12.11.1 FINAL SENTENCE OF PARAGRAPH FOUR: “ANY GAME IN WHICH A SUSPENDED PLAYER OR COACH PARTICIPATES ILLEGALLY SHALL BE FORFEITED TO THE OPPOSING TEAM!”

In our quest to produce the absolutely best officiating for college soccer, EVERY man and woman, wearing the NISOA badge, HAS TO BE THEIR BEST AT ALL TIMES! That means, BEFORE, DURING and AFTER the game is played.

It is still early enough to do two things for the 2011 season:

1. Check back, over the games you have completed, to see if any paperwork items still need correcting.
2. Resolve to be peerless, in not only ‘calling’ the game, but attending to all the details! I know you can do this!!

I am writing to update everyone on the recent security breach experienced by OSI. On September 6^th, our web host notified us that unauthorized access to a database containing the personal information of some of our web site customers had occurred. The sophistication of the breach has made it hard to determine the exact date(s) of attack, so we are notifying all web customers since our new site went up in November 2010 just to be extremely cautious.  This breach affects only customers who have ordered via our web site, customer information from telephone, fax or mail orders were not affected.

On September 6^th we started to email all customers who had purchased from our web site going all the way back to November 1, 2010. We notified them of the breech and asked them to call their card issuing bank and to report the possibility of unauthorized access to their information. We also asked them to routinely monitor their credit reports. To make this easier for them we will be offering a year of free credit monitoring to all potentially affected customers. Information about this credit monitoring service will be mailed shortly.  Everyone will also be receiving notification again regarding the breach, plus a discount offer for their next order, in the mail.

All three major credit bureaus have been notified – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. We have also filed a police report. U.S. Soccer was notified on September 6^th and they have been kept up to date regarding our actions. Our web site is currently down while further investigations are made into the attack.

We cannot express enough the regret we have for this situation. For 27 years OSI has strived to earn your trust and respect by selling quality products. We have been selling our products via our web site for 15 years without one security breach. We are sickened that our site was hacked and the negative impact it has had on so many referees, our valued and loyal customers.

We will continue to update everyone affected as we gain additional information. And most of all, we will work tirelessly to once again gain your trust. I want to thank you for your support and friendship.

 

Sincerely,
Marilou Tobin
President
Official Sports International

C. Cliff McCrath

Ladies and Gentlemen of NISOA: This weekend marks one of the more somber and, yet, special times in American history. The college season is well underway and I wish you all the greatest success in managing and officiating games – be they the Game-of-the-Week or “Triple ZZZ” Institute in Backcountry U.S.A. But sometime in the next four days, I encourage you to set aside eight minutes and three seconds to view this video. And may God bless all you do this season.