[Swan217]

FIRST in the last few years has been deemphasizing calls made "behind the glass" so to speak, so TKM's post doesn't surprise me, though I still find it interesting. I agree, we should go back to the days where, manpower willing, there are referees to watch the HPs/Drivers/Coaches as well.

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Sounds kind of like a Harrison Bergeron approach to the problem: if you can't improve, at least make every event equally bad. Instead, I think people would be willing to accept a small systemic inconsistency due to some events having more (properly qualified) referees, because it simply represents an effort above and beyond FIRST's minimum standard of enforcement.

Tristan,
That is exactly the approach FIRST has taken in the past. When I was lobbying FIRST to raise referee standards by instituting a "Referee Test," I was told it was unfeasible because it was hard enough filling volunteer roles in general. I think that was also one of the original reasonings behind the split-off of Michigan from FIRST, in the hope that they could "Raise the Bar" so to speak.

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

At what point, should a referee step up to a student and let them know they causing fouls? I mean we have flags and hand signals to let the drivers know when they are committing fouls. Shouldn't someone let the human players know when they are committing fouls too?

Adam,
I think you nailed the question. Why didn't the referee step up & notify the student after maybe the 2nd infraction, instead of getting flag-happy? The worst part is the kid in your situation probably never knew what hit him. I know it's the Elims, but maybe that match was his first as HP. I see the goal as a Ref as to help teams prevent potential infractions, as well as award actual ones.

Originally Posted by bduddy

As a field reset volunteer and wannabe ref, I've tried to notify referees about fouls I've seen... in previous years I was told off by the FTA, and this year the refs seemed to mostly ignore me (as I stated earlier).

I notice some people in general get uptight when you try to help like that and think you're telling them how to do their job. They're likely insecure because they aren't performing to their own expectations, but they should realize that nobody can see every penalty, and appreciate the help. Unfortunately, you can't tell them that, so all you can do is shrug it off.