Instructor's Corner
Wally Fallman	February 2007

Back from the holidays and ready to go? OK, who remembers Law XIV ? (If you forgot, or didn’t know, it’s The Penalty Kick). What happens when the kicking team encroaches and the ball does not go in the net? What happens when the GK encroaches and deflects the ball across the goal line? What’s the restart?

I guess the purpose of this letter is to get us all back into the book (Laws of the Game 2006/2007) and to review some of the things that we do not see every match. After all, it’s been a few weeks………………

Laws I through IV are pretty standard. By that I mean that we show up to the field (Law I), we get a ball from the home team (Law II), we look over the team rosters (Law III) and check in the teams, ensuring they are equipped properly (Law IV). What else is there to do? Well, during the match (the duration is dictated by the rules of competition and further defined by Law VII), we start and re-start play (see Law VIII), and determine when the ball is in or out of play (Law IX) or is a goal (Law X). So far, nothing is critical. So where should our focus be, coming back after the holiday break?

When is the player offside? (See Law XI) Name the penal fouls and the restarts? Name the non-penal fouls and the re-starts? (See Law XII) These are the areas that get us into trouble every time. See the foul, blow the whistle, signal for restart with direction and type.

Hopefully, while you are reading this, you are also answering the questions and getting them right (if you’re not sure, read the book. It’s only 64 pages.)

The February membership meeting will address Law XIII, Free Kicks, and the interesting part of the training will be soliciting responses from highly educated referees……………… and see what we get……………………….My observation that is that we get about 80% of the calls correct, and then we botch the restart. So before we go out and do any more games, read the law, attend the meeting, and see how smart we can all become………….

See you on the pitch!