The Value of a Great Support Structure

Posted by Bill on May 10th 2008 to - Soccer

Today I took another step in my process to become an AYSO National Referee.  I had a Pre-Assessment as an AR in a Boys Under 19 match.  My Area requires a pre-assessment at the Area Level as a Center and AR before recommending candidates to Section for the 3 formal assessments.  I’m happy to announce that I passed my AR Pre-assessment today, and I passed my Center Pre-Assessment last week.   However,  I don’t deserve the credit for these accomplishments, the credit goes to my support structure. 

  • Over the years, I have attended some great courses, taught by great instructors.
  • I have worked with hundreds of referees, and tried to learn from what they did well (and what they didn’t)
  • Online resources.  I subscribe to a mailing list,  SocRef-L hosted at the University of Rhode Island.  Here, I get to read the thoughts and opinions of many referees and this gets me to think about situations before I see them in a match.
  • Family.  My Wife and Daughter are both referees, and they support my passion, and understand when I spend hours on the soccer pitch each Saturday.

If it wasn’t for my support structure,  I would not be the referee I am today.  I try to be part of a support structure for other referees by mentoring, instructing, and being regional referee administrator in my local AYSO region.

So when you see someone succeed at something that is important to you,  ask yourself,  “what is their support structure?  How can I improve mine?”

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

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Customer Service: Going beyond the call of duty.

Posted by Bill on August 28th 2007 to - Management, - Soccer

Ok, its been a while since I posted. Since I posted a rant about how poor customer service caused me to take my lunch business elsewhere,  its only fair that I post about great service. I am the Regional Referee Administrator for the local AYSO Region.  We had a course scheduled to prepare new referees for the upcoming season.  Due to a paperwork mix-up, the facility thought that the class was Sunday, so Saturday Morning,  I found myself standing outside a closed, locked building with nearly 40 new referee candidates.  A local auto-dealership, Santa Margarita Ford, saved the day by allowing us to use their conference room for the class.  That’s right, a Auto-Dealership cares enough about the community and its children, that the employees will take time from their busy day to help a volunteer referee clinic to continue on as scheduled.  Below is the letter that I sent to Jim Graham, the owner of Santa Margarita Ford.  I’d like to say thanks to Jim Graham, John Rufino, and all the crew in the Santa Margarita Ford Service department.

 

August 19, 2007

Dear Mr. Graham,

I wanted to take a minute to praise one of your employees. I am the Regional Referee Administrator for AYSO Region 630, in RSM. We had a referee training event scheduled for Saturday, August 18th at another facility. Due to a paperwork mix-up, the facility was not open for us, and at 8:30 Saturday morning, we found ourselves locked outside the building with 36 students and 6 instructors. As I was explaining to the students that we would have to reschedule the training, several students mentioned that they had changed travel plans to make this training event, and would not be able to attend the other scheduled dates. One of the students said he “knew somebody at Santa Margarita Ford” and that we would make a phone call. He called John Rufino and in fifteen minutes we were setup in the Service Department Conference Room. When he discovered that there were not enough chairs, he had several Service Employees round up chairs from around the Dealership for us. I know that the Service Department at Santa Margarita Ford is a very busy place on Saturday mornings, but John took time out of his schedule to make our training happen. Due in large part to the actions of John Rufino and the rest of the Service Department, we now have 36 newly certified referees supporting the children of our community to play soccer. John’s dedication to our community should be commended. On behalf of my referee staff, the students, and the children of our community, I thank him.

Thank You,

William Eric Noyes

Regional Referee Administrator

AYSO 11-L-630

Many of us in technology can learn a lesson from Santa Margarita Ford about taking time from our schedules to help our users and customers, even if it is not our job.   Our customers will remember, and be much more likely to approach us when they have something that does fall within our domain.

 

Bill Noyes

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Gold Cup Final

Posted by Bill on June 21st 2007 to - Soccer

OK, the final is set. Sunday June 24th, Mexico will play defending Gold Cup Champions USA for the 2007 Gold Cup Championship. On the west coast the game is at noon, although some networks show it in delay. For years, Mexico dominated play between the two nations, but USA has come on strong in recent years. The past few years the games have been pretty even, with USA winning games in the US, and Mexico having the advantage in Mexico, particularly in Mexico City. The Gold Cup final is in Chicago this year, which bodes well for USA.

I’m anticipating an exciting, fast and physical game with the USA edging out Mexico 2-1 on a late goal. What do you think?

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