NLLL 2013

Up in the city of Luleå (or at least right outside the city) the NLLL was held this weekend. The women had a two day training camp and the men had a four team tournament. For a while it was a close call if I (and many with me) were even going to make it as weather conditions throughout Sweden made the airlines cancel a lot of flights and the remaining were almost all delayed. Some players didn't make it the same day. I managed to get there with a 45 minute delay.

I had the honor of being the Referee in Chief for this tournament. We were two full-time referees and had a schedule for all participating teams to provide referees and time keepers. Seven (out of eight) games each for the full-time referees and some players did up to three games refereeing.

None of the referees from the teams had gone through the formal international beginners training, but some of them were approved Swedish referees. In the end we had referees who were confident in themselves as referees and we had players who pretty much refereed their first game ever. In all games there were at least one full-time referee and in most two.

The result? Much better than expected!

Why? Many different reasons.

• In all games we had three on-field referees and one CBO. We decided to stick with three on-field referees even though the field was small. This made it possible to get the positioning right also for the beginner referees and all angles were covered, which made it easier to see all that we needed to see.
• All players (and I really do mean all players) realized the reality of where we are with the Swedish referees today. There were almost no complaints towards our referees. There was not a single player being sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct against the referees. 
• It seemed like even the most inexperienced referees just were caught up in the moment and gave their best performance given the circumstances. 

Anything still missing? In Sweden we are almost only two full-time referees. We need more! At the same time the current Swedish refereeing program is only one year old. We will improve! It will get better!

Thank you all participants and organizers for a great lacrosse weekend. Do make sure you invite me next year!