Be the Referee: Penalty Kick Change

October 6, 2016

This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl explains how soccer penalty kick rules have been changed this year to dissuade players from hesitating before taking the kick.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Soccer Penalty Kick Change - Listen

In the game of soccer, goals are tough to come by. That’s why in some of the most important games, we see those contests head into overtime and ultimately get decided by penalty kicks – or P-Ks.

The rules dealing with penalty kicks have changed for this year. In years past, whenever a player would hear the referee’s whistle and start to move toward the ball to make a penalty kick, any hesitation, delay or stutter-step would make that kick illegal. In past years, that player always got an opportunity to take a re-kick.

But this year, there is no opportunity for that player to take an additional re-kick.

Past editions
Sept. 29: Preparation for Officials - Listen
Sept 22: You Make the Call: Returning Kickoffs - Listen
Sept. 15: Concussions - Listen
Sept 8: Equipment Covering the Knees - Listen
Sept. 1: Play Clock Experiment - Listen
Aug. 25: Clipping in the Free Blocking Zone - Listen

Be the Referee: Selecting Finals Officials

April 9, 2018

In this final edition for the 2017-18 school year, assistant director Mark Uyl explains how officials are selected to work the MHSAA's biggest tournament events.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Selecting Finals Officials - Listen

During every season and every tournament, we get the question, “How were these officials chosen to be working the championship games?”

Just like the tournament progression has the best teams playing until the bitter end, we have a process to where the best officials are also identified to be working those Semifinal and Final games.

Every official gets rated by both schools (every time she or he work a game) over a three-year period on a 1-4 scale. All of this data is compiled to where we then produce the top third, middle third and bottom third in terms of school ratings.

We then also look at recommendations from associations, assigners and leagues and conferences to identify the very best officials being on the very best games.

Past editions
March 15: We Get Letters - Listen
February 22: Block/Charge Calls - Listen
February 15: Dog Days of February - Listen
February 8: National Playing Rules Process - Listen
February 1: Calling Intentional Fouls - Listen
January 25: Points at the Edge of the Mat - Listen
January 18: Behavior Warning - Listen
January 11: Ice Hockey Safe & Sound - Listen
January 4: Why No Shot Clock - Listen
December 21: Coaches Responsible for Equipment - Listen
December 14: Mentoring New Officials - Listen
December 7: Dive on the Floor - Listen
November 30: Wrestling Weight Monitoring - Listen
November 23: Ejections - Listen
November 16: Toughest Call - Listen
November 9: Hurdling - Listen
November 2: The Survey Says - Listen
October 26: Helmet Comes Off -
 Listen
October 19: Goal Line Rules - Listen
October 12: No 1st-Year Fee - Listen
October 5: Athletic Empty Nesters - Listen
September 28: Misunderstood Football Rules: Kicking - Listen
September 21: Preparation for Officials - Listen
September 14: Always Stay Registered - Listen
September 7: Other Football Rules Changes - Listen
August 31: Pop-Up Onside Kicks - Listen
August 24: Blindside Blocks - Listen