Jefferson Cup Academies: 3/21-3/23 & 3/28-3/30

As March draws to an end, CVSRA is proud of the accomplishments of all referees who were a part of the Jefferson Cup Academies.

The Jefferson Cup Academies took place over the Girls Jefferson Cup Showcase and Boys Jefferson Cup Showcase weekends.

National level instructors and assessors joined our academy from around the country. The instructors led evening learning sessions about different aspects of refereeing, and referees put their knowledge to the test on the field the following days.

Each game consisted of a referee instructor watching the crew and assessing their skills. The crew and instructor then had a short debrief about how the game went and aspects of improvement.

The Jefferson Cup Academies proved to be a huge success, with referees hopeful to once again attend next year. Referees learned invaluable skills to carry out on the field as their careers grow, and enjoyed a weekend surrounded by like minded professionals who had their best interest in mind.

Peer Mentoring: 3/8-3/9

During the Boy’s Jefferson Cup on March 8 & 9 at Glen Allen High School, CVSRA rolled out it’s “new” Peer Mentoring Initiative.

The Peer Mentoring Initiative included one site during a tournament where no adults would be present – except for coaches and parents. The objective was to have the more experienced high school referees mentor each other, as well as the middle school referees.

We heard many comments during and after the tournament about how successful our youth referees felt the event went, making this a huge success!

Special thanks to our high school seniors Katelyn Davison, Sarah Olsen, Rylan Samos, and Emma Sicat who stepped up as CVSRA’s first Peer Mentors.

Peer Mentoring will continue next weekend during the Girl’s Jefferson Cup on March 15 & 16.

Training Pays Off: 3/8-3/9 

During the months of January and February, CVSRA held seven Supplemental Youth Training sessions via Zoom. CVSRA’s continuous of youth referee training paid great dividends over the weekend during the Boy’s Jefferson Cup on March 8 & 9.

Our youth referees were put to the test many times and stood tall despite constant pressure from fans and coaches. Two separate incidents stood out and deserve applause for how our youth referees handled themselves and the situations: 

Over at J.R. Tucker High School, there was a game that ended with a score of 5-4, and a protest regarding the score was filed to the tournament director.  All 3 referees on the crew were asked to show their record book of the score on that game – all 3 had physically recorded the score as 5-4.  Mega kudos to Howard Toft, Milo Toft, and Matei Boanca!

Over at Glen Allen High School, we had a player go down and hit his head on the artificial turf. His head hit hard enough that the referee crew determined that it was a safety issue and informed the coach that the player was in “concussion protocol.” There was no athletic trainer on site, so the player could not play the rest of the day as only an assigned certified athletic trainer can release a player from “concussion protocol.”  Excellent job to Peyton Seward, Madi Sicat, and Lucas Ryther!