Congratulation to Mark Larson for his selection to represent Indiana at the National Youth Championship games in Frisco, Texas. Below is Marks Journal at the Nationals .
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Youth Nationals 2007 Journal
7/23/07
Ø 11:20am—Leave Indianapolis International Airport for Frisco, Texas
Ø 12:30pm CDT—Arrive Dallas-Ft Worth International Airport
Ø 2:45pm— Arrived at the hotel. It is about 30 minutes away.
Ø Eat lunch since the last meal before this time was breakfast with my family at Panera Bread at 9am. We walked to Applebees and ate there. It was neat to meet a couple of guys from Region IV, Rahm and Jeremy Fagundes (CAN). We eventually walk over to Target to pick up some water and snacks for the week, and then back to the hotel with Connor Williams.
Ø We gradually begin to see people arriving as one of the vans pulls up. Brian Hall, former FIFA referee, steps off one van and introduces himself to everyone in the hotel lobby. I had already checked into my room but I now meet my roommate, Mark Ferreira (AZ), from Region IV.
Ø A couple of announcements are written on the white board in the lobby which is our central source of info for the week. The announcement is that we are to be dressed in our “dress blues” for the first instruction at 8am. We will be transported to another hotel for the meeting, then to the player luncheon, and lastly to the fields.
7/24/07
Ø Meet in the lobby to be transported to the meeting room. You don’t want to be late to these “appointments” so everyone is there pretty early.
Ø First instructional meeting is logistical: expense reports, tournament rules, heads of delegation, and then introduction of VIPs (USSF instructor, national assessors/mentors, administrators of each of the regions, etc). Lastly all of the referees introduce themselves. First day of assignments given out.
Ø Brian Hall gives some instruction on what the games will be like and tells some stories from his experience at World Cup 2002.
Ø 11:30am—Transport to another hotel for the player luncheon. Pretty cool because they want some of the referees to carry the traveling trophies up to the platform. I get to carry the U-16 Girls trophy. I am surprised at how heavy those trophies really are. I picked up the U-19 Boy’s trophy and I bet it weighed about 75-80 pounds. The luncheon was well organized and fast paced with the exception of the keynote speaker who couldn’t catch a plane out of Alaska to make it to Texas.
Ø To the fields to check them out. We get the obligatory group photo in from of the gate to Pizza Hut Park. Check out the fields--they are in wonderful shape but will take quite a beating this week. More instruction from Brian. Every region gets their own photo of their delegates also
Ø Transport back to the hotel where we are given two different sets of instruction: the first is to go get comfortable so that we can give out the equipment; the second is to stay in the lobby so that we can pass out equipment. Of course some do the first and some do the second, so it is a mess but eventually all the equipment is passed out. We get a charcoal adidas kit as well as a warm-up shirt and shoes (my third charcoal kit if anyone is keeping count). Some groups do their pregame now as the first sets of games kick off at 7:30am. I am AR1 at 9:30am on a boy’s U-15 match. I then have AR2 at 7:30pm for a girl’s U-19 match. Off to bed as I need to leave early tomorrow morning to watch some of the teams that I will have Thursday.
7/25/07
Ø 7:20am—Van leaves hotel for those that want to watch the 7:30 games. I am going because Bob mentions that I should watch the U-18 boys as I will have one of the next matches Thursday.
Ø 8:30am—Meet with Jack Damrill (OK) from Region III as he does his pre-game for the U-15 boy’s match.
Ø 9:30am—U-15 Boy’s match (AR1)
Ø 11:30am—We are done with the match which went well, but Jack is really nauseous. Stayed with him until a van was called to pick him up. Turns out that this was the last assignment of Jack’s week as he never really regained full health.
Ø Went to lunch by myself since by the time I got back to the hotel, everyone was gone.
Ø White board says that vans are leaving hotel at 2:50pm for instruction.
Ø 3:00pm-4:30pm—Instruction by Brian as well as assignments for Thursday.
Ø 6:20pm—Leave for fields again
Ø 7:30pm—U-19 Girl’s match (AR2)
Ø After game is completed, the entire group of referees went to Third Base Sports Bar. It was a good idea, but the execution of the dinner was a fiasco. We attempted to do our post-game discussion with Wolfram Blattner but that was difficult given the noise in the room.
Ø Back to the hotel for sleep.
7/26/07
Ø 8:00am—Leave hotel for fields as I am the center official on a boy’s U-18 match at 9:30am
Ø 9:30am—U-18 match – the match did not go as well as I had hoped. The result was probably just (1-1), but it was an ugly game for me. I was not able to deal with the players as I should have been.
Ø Noon—Off to Down Under Pub & Grub. This turns out to be one of the best places for lunch. I had a good lunch but was still pretty bummed about the game.
Ø 3:00pm—Instruction from Brian at another hotel. These meetings turned out to be a hassle due to the fact that they were not at the hotel where we were. We had to travel anytime we had instruction. No game assignments given out as they are still trying to determine finals matchups and officials.
Ø After we arrived back at the hotel, I had my post-game discussion with David Olmos. He was very honest but gave me many good things to think about before next game. It was certainly my worst post-game “assessment” but we’ll see how it affects my next game (if I get one). I was glad to get this one over with.
Ø Since my post-game took a bit longer, Landis Wiley (IA) picked me up a burrito at Chipotle for dinner.
Ø 7:00pm—Off to the fields to watch some soccer. It started to rain about 7:15, so they pulled all the teams, spectators and officials off the fields until 8:15. Games eventually got going and the evening was much cooler due to the rain.
Ø 11:00pm—Back at the hotel to get assignments for the next day. I have been assigned a center on a U-16 girl’s match. I am excited but then I get re-assigned to a U-14 girl’s match due to a referee that had already seen the U-14 girls that week in the middle. Oh well, I have to focus on what I need to do differently on the match that I have.
7/27/07
Ø 8:20am—Back on the van going to the fields for my 9:30 game. I am working with two guys from Region II who are already working on the 7:30 time, so I have no chance to do a pre-game with them. I am glad that it was two guys that I knew instead of two completely new people.
Ø 9:00am—David Olmos walks up to me to see if I am ready for my match. I tell him “Yes” and then ask him if he is watching my game next. He looks at his schedule and says that he is. I ask him if I can steal 1 minute of half time to ask him if what I am doing today is better than what I did yesterday. He says that that would be fine.
Ø 9:30am—U-14 Girl’s match
Ø 10:05am—Halftime and I find David Olmos. All he does is put out his fist to tell me that the difference between yesterday and today is 180˚. I am very relieved to hear that. Second half goes just as well. Brian Hall mentions to the group that we have earned an afternoon off—No INSTRUCTION and TIME OFF to sleep.
Ø Noon—Lunch again at Down Under. This meal is much better as my game had been much better. Ate $30 worth of food for lunch which must be a record.
Ø Back to the hotel where a few of us take a swim in the pool. It was really good for the sore muscles, really! Quick nap which was much needed.
Ø 7:20pm—Off to the fields to watch the last group play games of the week. Of particular interest is the U-17 boys games as no teams are eliminated as well as the U-19 boys and girls. The U-19 Carmel team is still in it.
Ø 8:10pm—After watching some of the U-17 boys and girls games as well as the U-19 boys games, I end up watching the Carmel team. As I am walking up the field, I hear the Carmel parents cheer as a penalty kick is taken and scored only to have the referee once again place the ball on the penalty spot. The referee confers with the SAR and 4th official and then with the JAR and restarts the game with an indirect free kick to the defending team. I quickly realize that I am in a bad position as I am wearing an Indiana referee shirt and standing right there. My group walked to another field so that I could change into another shirt. The final result of that game was 5-4 with Carmel losing and not in the national championship game on Sunday.
Ø 9:45pm—Off to Olive Garden to get dinner. It was about time to leave the restaurant when I received a call that the Carmel’s game result was being protested due to the incorrect restart. A Carmel player had encroached into the area before the kick was taken, so the restart should have been a penalty kick. Since the restart was incorrectly given as an indirect free kick to the PWSI team, the result was protested. I told the people at dinner that we would probably not get our assignments right away since there was a protest being heard. Little did I know at the time.
Ø 11:00pm—Lobby of the hotel waiting for assignments. Gary Huber eventually came down to go over some logistics of the finals as they were finishing up assignments for all the finals.
Ø Midnight—Bob comes in to tell us that the protest was upheld and the U-19 girls match would be replayed from the time of the error (42nd minute) to the 90th minute. Not much is said about that game as the crew involved was very down-trodden. We eventually got our assignments for Saturday and the R/ARs for Sunday at about 12:30am. I have no assignment at this time.
7/28/07
Ø Wake up in time to get breakfast and get to the fields to watch some of the 7:30 matches. Most of the Region II people are working today, so I took my camera to get some pictures of them working.
Ø During the morning I am told by Ryan Cigich that I am the 4th official for the U-17 Girl’s match at 7:30 am tomorrow. That is a good assignment and am excited about the possibilities of that match.
Ø We meet back in the hotel lobby after the 9:30 matches are completed to get the complete schedule for tomorrow. The match assignments are passed out as well as we are told to check out of our room before leaving for the fields unless our room has a late check out (mine does since both me and my roommate have matches).
Ø Lunch at the Down Under again (for the last time, honestly), and then back to the hotel. A few of us decide to go see a movie, so we did. Good time to just relax.
Ø Gary Huber had mentioned to us that we are doing a Region II dinner tonight at a Brazilian steakhouse. Landis has been raving about the food, so we have reservations. This is going to happen after we go to see the FC Dallas v. Pachuca match. This is a SuperLiga match.
Ø 6:15pm—Leave for FC Dallas match at 7pm. There were a number of referees there that sat together. Good opportunity to mingle with other referees. The game was pretty good and ended 1-1.
Ø After the game we picked up Gary and headed to Texas de Brazil. A Brazilian steakhouse is essentially a buffet except that they bring steak, chicken, pork, and other meats around to each table. They keep bringing the meat as long as you sit there, so it ends up being a contest among the guys to see how many filets you could eat.
Ø Much needed sleep after that eat-fest. Need to be ready to leave for the field at 6:20am.
7/29/07
Ø 6:20am—Load up for the last trip to the fields. Pre-game had been taken care of the night before, so we are ready to tackle the world.
Ø 7:30pm—U-17 Girl’s National Championship between Dallas Texans (TX-N) and Eagles (CA-S). Really good match that Eagles won 3-2
Ø Watched until halftime of the 9:30 matches and then loaded to go back to the hotel. Shower and pack up for the 1pm departure to the airport.
Ø We have been grouped in vans, so we load up and take off. Many good byes to new friends as we leave. The van groups left a little bit to be desired as we were not all going to the same terminal, but we got it all worked out. Thank heavens for cell phones.
Ø Check in at the airport only to have a rain storm come thru that delays us all an hour. My flight that was supposed to be for 5:30 ended up being 6:30. I was able to get some dinner at Chili’s and a Starbucks in the airport though.
Ø 9:30pm—Touchdown in Indy. I flew with some of the National Champion U-19 Girls team from Carmel. I am just excited to be home with my family. What a week!!