Kanga Cup 2014 Grand Final Appointments Announced

“Sometimes it's worth lingering on the journey for a while before getting to the destination.” 
― Richelle Mead, The Indigo Spell

Evening everyone,

Well just like every year it's Thursday night already at the Academy and almost everyone has collapsed into bed, dreaming of tomorrow's Grand Final games and the challenges they represent.  I suspect also like every year there are small groups meeting quietly to discuss who has what and how fair or unfair it all seems, how could that person get that appointment over me and why didn't I get what I deserve?  Or did you???

Well having been involved in the process directly for 7 seasons of Kanga Cup it was again a slow and Herculean like task to determine the appointments, but I believe the best season yet in terms of fairness and accuracy in terms of selection.  Many hours of work during the week, much debate on Wednesday about the process which does evolve yearly to meet the changing needs of a growing Academy and competition structure.  This year Capital Football updated their coaching sheet and formed a metric based approach I've never seen before in my 18 years as a coach, giving effectively control of the mark very much into the referees hands in terms of performance. 

Traditionally assessments are part fact or knowledge of the game, part assessor experience / gut feel and part personality.  This creates many varied scores, ranging up and down and isn't the best way to ensure consistency of reporting.

With a new form, featuring 5 sections 

Application of the Laws, Movement and Position, Player Management, Sanctions, Other Duties

and multiple components to meet which the assessor selects from the following in terms of meeting (Rarely, At times, Generally, Almost always (or always))

From this a numerical value has been established against the select component, allowing a numerical calculation to be determined and therefore establish a final ranking figure for the ever increasingly complex spreadsheet started 3 years ago.

Here's a example from today - 

The form both falls closer in line with the FFA national coaching form whilst allowing for a rating / ranking figure to be determined directly by which box is ticked.  Coaching points at the bottom should be the focus and potentially expand on the boxes selected in the 5 sections above.  Some issues are evident, like how to score a match with no dissent or need by the referee to address dissent - we determined to score Generally in this case and perhaps mark N/A (not applicable) to indicate why.

It's not perfect and the process thereafter isn't either, but many factors are out of the control of the coaches group to ensure that the playing field is flat (can't find many in Canberra at all).  Some issues we are always challenged by include having different age groups at same ground, paneled referees performing under or over their panel allocation, appointments outside of the panel as a result of both those issues, numbers of officials -v- competition need (big increase in teams from last year) but referees numbers are down and the tournament effect.  This is evident in two ways, positive and negative.

Negative effects can be sudden illness, fatigue, injury, lack of focus and unrealistic goals or preparation for the tournament.  Positive tournament effects can include the hot house competitive nature of KCRYA, making new friends and connections, swimming in a bigger pool of talent than Saturday local leagues, mentoring / coaching bonds forming, intensive games / education / learning and working environments you've experienced here.

Tournament effect takes a toll, physically and mentally and for many of you it may also be your first time away from family independently, so again more effects on how your likely to perform under pressure, right from Saturday when you arrived - not just the first game.

So if you think really hard and honestly, did you deserve more that what you've been given?  Were you impacted by tournament effect and if so, by how much?  Did you put 110% in all week on all matches, even when you didn't think anyone was watching (we're always watching).  Did you bring the best Complete Youth Referee to this years Kanga or only when you needed to be seen to be the best?  Or are you really a work in progress??

Did you really read and absorb the coaching comments?  Did you improve this week in even one area?  Are you taking away new ideas about how to approach your refereeing?  Did you learn or hear something new, but not yet really thought about it and what it might mean for your Elite Future?  Did someone notice you and really see you?  Were you recognized?  Did you have a Magic Moment?

Remember, semi finals are harder than Grand Finals to control and run in most cases, but don't get recognized as much.  Those aren't just appointed by darts on the board either, so perhaps you need to give yourself a break and recognized that this is just a small step on your journey onto hopefully bigger, tougher, more exciting things in your future as a Elite Referee. 

And 20 years from now, when your back at the Academy as a FIFA guest presenter, you'll remember the faces and some of the names, the crazy coaches who never slept, some of the stories that always stay on tournament but not worry any more about why you didn't get the game you deserved.

All because you were able to linger here at KCRYA for just a little while.....

Good luck tomorrow, you'll be nervous so I won't say don't be (it's natural) and bring your best game, leave it all on the field.

More pictures from Day1 now online.

Appointments here

Cheers and now to bed,

KangaCupRef