This past weekend has probably been the busiest weekend I've had in several years. Friday night, luckily, was nothing so it was actually the "calm before the storm". However Saturday, started with my participation in a High School tournament in which I was scheduled to referee 5 games. All games went nicely with very few incidents (a few cautions for slide tackles and late tackles).

Then Sunday was a full 13-hour day of soccer. It started at 8am, when I was asked to evaluate one of the young referees in our Winter Development Program. That was followed by a 2-hour committee meeting. Following that, it was off to St. Eustache to referee 3 collegial games (which also went well but the intensity was significantly higher than the day before). And then it was off to referee 3 more women's games. So if you're keeping score, that was a total of 11 games in 2 days.

Plus for this week, I have two double-header high school games followed by a women's and men's league games. So it will continue to be a little tiring this week but things will be slowing for me as the LLO shows approach and I am "forced" to not schedule anything to take care of my honey during her busy time. This will also be a great time to bond with the little one...

ok, so I have a few moments to update some info here.

Last week was another packed week of games - both High School and senior games. most of games went without incident (although one of the high school games saw a red card given to a player for receiving a second caution - and still his team managed to squeek out a win...)

But this biggest excitement occurred on Sunday in a Men's Division-1 game in which two players challenged for the ball, but both of them missed and they went shin-on-shin. one of the players crumbled to the ground while the other player seemed to be ok. I immediately called the Physio over and he determined that his leg was broken (he actually managed to turn his ankle around without his leg moving... yuk!!!) Anyways, that delayed the game for almost 20 minutes. But one the player was carted off, play resumed and it was a great game.

This coming week will see another full slate of games coming up. Also on Saturday will see me take part in a High School tournament, reffing 5 games (but the games are shorter, so it's not like 8 hours of reffing....)

On Sunday, I have an extremely busy day with a Committee meeting in the morning, three College games in the afternoon and then three Wilows games in the evening. So, yeah - that's gonna be a tiring day.

And THEN the big news (for me at least)!!! In a couple of weekends, I've been scheduled to give a Referee's Course. I'm REALLY looking forward to that as I'll get a chance to use the new training material just received to help mold and shape some new referees. The Canadian Soccer Association has now standardized all of the training across the country so the goal is that someone who gets trained here will be trained using the same materials and methodology as someone in BC. But that also means between now and then I'll be doing a TON of studying making sure I know this new course material inside and out... cool!!

And finally, it's exactly ONE month to go before opening night of the LLO show of Iolanthe... and although I'm not in it this year, my honey is and it will certainly be a busy time then.

This past weekend saw the visit of "V" from Ontario. She really helped us out this weekend as we had a clash of activities and both of us were "stuck" with no one to watch little Wynter. Well, when "V" heard of the chance of spending an entire weekend with her, she jumped at the chance.

So on Friday afternoon, I picked "V" up from the bus terminal (we figured this would be the easiest for everyone). Friday night, we didn't do anything special other than hanging out and relaxing. I did spend some time studying as I had a very busy weekend ahead which I will now explain.

On Saturday morning, "A" left to go with her art school teachers for a weekend getaway so this was why she was going to be away for the weekend. And what I had to do was attend an Instructor's seminar on giving the "Entry Level Course" from the CSA (Canadian Soccer Association). It was an incredible seminar and I learned so much. The Canadian system has now given instructor's ALL the tools they need to effectively present the course and prepare referees for taking the entry level exam. And as part of the course, I had to present one of the topics and also perform/lead some drills that referees took part in to train them to becoming referees. I got some great feedback from both the referees doing the drills as well as the other instructors and the organizers.

I was also told I did a good job and the organizers were looking forward to using me this spring to give some entry level courses. So this was really exciting - an entire weekend which was soccer related. So now that the weekend is all done, I'm the one who's really looking forward to giving a course. I still have lots to read up on and prepare but my plan is to do all of this ahead of time so that when I'm called upon, I will be ready.

So while I was taking this course, "V" and Wynter had a great time playing and hanging out and it was just fantastic that "V" was able to watch over her and take care of her so I didn't have to worry about her. It SO helped both of us out.

This coming week will be another 4 day stretch of games to ref, followed by a 1-day break and then followed by a 6-day reffing stretch. So busy days ahead but it's all good.

And finally, we are on the final finishing touches to "A"'s newly redesigned website (done by yours truly...) So in the next day or two, we'll be activating it for World-Wide release...

What a weekend! My legs are actually getting sore from all this running around. However, first some hospital news.

On Thursday, I received a call saying the "J" had either sprained or fractured his arm while playing hockey. An hour later, it was confirmed that he had actually broken his wrist and that he was getting a cast. And then an hour after that I spoke with him, we hooked up the webcams and saw that he has a cast on his forearm, which he'll need to have on for about 3 weeks. At least now is the best time for him to have this rather than in the spring/summer when soccer is in full gear. Poor little guy!!

Friday saw the beginning of a 7-straight-day reffing stint with some single games, double-games and a triple-header. Friday night got things started with a double-header Senior Elite games, which both of them went extremely well. I had a little trouble with one of the players in the first game but nothing serious.

Saturday morning, I had a game in which I played and then Saturday afternoon was the triple-header. And then Sunday afternoon, some friends of ours had some 2x4's, plywood and gyprock delivered to their driveway and I helped them move it into their house as they are getting their basement re-done. The 2x4's and plywood weren't that bad, but the gyprock was REALLY heavy. So you'd think I would rest after that, right? Nope... in the late afternoon, I had a double-header, the first game being a Division-1 Men's game (which went very well), followed by a nice and relaxing Division-5 women's game. So the entire weekend finished with 7 games to ref, one to play and a lot of wood/gyprock to move...

This week, will start with a rare Monday night Senior Elite game preceded by a U18-Boys game and then the rest of the week will have high school games on Tuesday/Wednesday(double)/and Thursday...

I just hope the ol' legs will keep going...

ya, ya... ok, so I'm a few days late - but things have been quite busy with vacation time, driving to/from Ontario and just a bunch of things at home.

Christmas/New Year's holidays were a lot of fun. No major trips or anything - just staying in town. In between the two holidays, I managed to work a LOT on "A"'s website and there are still a few little tweaks left to do. We're hoping to get the site up in the next few days so that she can start promoting herself. The website is really cool, in that it will allow "A" to make changes on her own without my involvement. So she'll be able to post whatever comments she wants, update any images of paintings/illustrations or whatever and then she'll also be able to update her own blog - all programmed by yours truly so stay tuned!!

There were no soccer activities happening as all the leagues were shut down for the holidays. So no reffing and no playing. But then this past weekend, I had a game to play and a couple of games to ref and boy could I ever feel it in my legs and my cardio. Not doing anything athletic for several days really affects things. So now, it's back to getting in shape. Things will really pick up next week but they've already started a bit this week.

So, things that are coming up: a high school game tonight to ref and then on the weekend, a game to play, a triple-header set of games to ref on Saturday and a double-header on Sunday. The weekend after that, I'll be taking part in an Instructor's course to get prepared to teach the Laws of the Game. Now THAT should be a lot of fun!! Later this winter and into spring, there will be a lot of courses that need to be given so hopefully, I can be assigned to at least a couple of them. The courses themselves take place over an entire weekend - 16 hours in total including some on-the-field drills and exercises.

And finally, I do have some new pictures to post, but I haven't copied them off my camera yet. So the "Picture-of-the-Week" is still a little old (still from Wynter's birthday). I'll see if I can update that tonight...