Post by Daniel on Sept 26, 2022 12:15:59 GMT -8
The SOCAL 2022-2023 season started on Saturday, September 11th. The day before the season started, Michelle Chesters from SOCAL sent an e-mail out to Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara club officials stating that:
I reached out to the scheduler with my concerns in regards to this. To which he responded with:
I asked Ian to call me the next day when he said he was available but he didn't. He did, however, respond to an e-mail of mine gave me the information to register for the the Sunday Night clinic they would be hosting at Ventura College. Their registration system is through Cal South and coincidentally, Cal South didn't have any information on SCSRA-Ventura's entry level clinic listed in their "schedules" tab nor did SCSRA-Ventura have any mention of this entry level clinic on any social media platform or on their own website.
Based off of the 2021 September member list and the 2022 September member list, SCSRA-Ventura actually has more active members in 2022 than it did in 2021.
Yesterday, we had a female youth referee show up solo to officiate our U-14 11v11 boys game. I don't know if she was a SCSRA-Ventura member or sent by SOCAL Soccer League from another association. Thankfully, one of the referees from SCSRA-Ventura who was assigned to another field stepped in and saved this youth referee from what was going to be a long day. She had never been a center ref before and was about to have an anxiety attack pre-game once she figured out what was happening.
There is not an increase in the number of teams registered to play youth soccer in Ventura County in 2022. There isn't additional fields being assigned. This is a blatant example of someone playing politics with kids soccer and unfortunately for our youth, they are the ones to lose out. There are alternatives to "we won't be covering any SOCAL Soccer League games" as SCSRA-Ventura had decided to do.
Last night, the referee association in your area turned back all SOCAL games. Ian Anderson notified our scheduler that they are short staffed and can not cover any games for SOCAL in your area for this season.
Considering he's had the schedule for several weeks and only notified us yesterday this is concerning and leads me to wonder why (although I think I know).
It would be helpful for each of you to reach out to Ian about this so that your games are covered. He's claiming a referee shortage, which I understand, but clearly he is covering games for other leagues and opting not to cover your SOCAL games.
Considering he's had the schedule for several weeks and only notified us yesterday this is concerning and leads me to wonder why (although I think I know).
It would be helpful for each of you to reach out to Ian about this so that your games are covered. He's claiming a referee shortage, which I understand, but clearly he is covering games for other leagues and opting not to cover your SOCAL games.
I reached out to the scheduler with my concerns in regards to this. To which he responded with:
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for reaching out. SCSRA-Ventura simply does not have enough referees to cover all the games in our area. We are making every effort to register more referees, including an entry level clinic this Sunday, September 11th at Ventura College Athletic Center starting at 4pm until 10pm. Please put the word out to your soccer community to increase attendance. Walk-ins are welcome.
If you’d like to discuss the referee shortage in greater detail and help problem-solve ways your club can help retain veteran officials and promote new officials, I’m happy to follow up with a phone call.
(FYI - I’m traveling tonight but am available all day tomorrow)
Thanks for reaching out. SCSRA-Ventura simply does not have enough referees to cover all the games in our area. We are making every effort to register more referees, including an entry level clinic this Sunday, September 11th at Ventura College Athletic Center starting at 4pm until 10pm. Please put the word out to your soccer community to increase attendance. Walk-ins are welcome.
If you’d like to discuss the referee shortage in greater detail and help problem-solve ways your club can help retain veteran officials and promote new officials, I’m happy to follow up with a phone call.
(FYI - I’m traveling tonight but am available all day tomorrow)
I asked Ian to call me the next day when he said he was available but he didn't. He did, however, respond to an e-mail of mine gave me the information to register for the the Sunday Night clinic they would be hosting at Ventura College. Their registration system is through Cal South and coincidentally, Cal South didn't have any information on SCSRA-Ventura's entry level clinic listed in their "schedules" tab nor did SCSRA-Ventura have any mention of this entry level clinic on any social media platform or on their own website.
Based off of the 2021 September member list and the 2022 September member list, SCSRA-Ventura actually has more active members in 2022 than it did in 2021.
Yesterday, we had a female youth referee show up solo to officiate our U-14 11v11 boys game. I don't know if she was a SCSRA-Ventura member or sent by SOCAL Soccer League from another association. Thankfully, one of the referees from SCSRA-Ventura who was assigned to another field stepped in and saved this youth referee from what was going to be a long day. She had never been a center ref before and was about to have an anxiety attack pre-game once she figured out what was happening.
There is not an increase in the number of teams registered to play youth soccer in Ventura County in 2022. There isn't additional fields being assigned. This is a blatant example of someone playing politics with kids soccer and unfortunately for our youth, they are the ones to lose out. There are alternatives to "we won't be covering any SOCAL Soccer League games" as SCSRA-Ventura had decided to do.
