Today was game day! CJ and I refereed Costa Rica vs. Canada. We did our pregame at lunch. After some rest, the ride to and from the stadium was a little faster, due to the police escort that helped us get through rush hour traffic. The game went well. It was 2-2 draw with two cautions. It was very hot and humid. Click to continue reading...

Today is the day before the 3rd game in group A so for us, that means game day preparation for tomorrow. We went to the beach and did our warm up and light workout, because the sand makes sure the workout doesn't impact our bodies too hard. We then got dinner and watched the other games and got to bed to get rest for the next day. Click to continue reading...

Today we got up and did a recovery workout before getting on the charter flight to Miami. This workout was just to get the heart rate up a little to help flush the lactic acids from the body. With a good stretch to help the muscles recover as well, it was off to the airport where our bus dropped us off at a small airport. Click to continue reading...

Today was matchday 2 for our group. I had the day off while Jair and CJ refereed Jamaica vs Costa Rica. The game went well with one caution and one red card. I got to watch both games up in a box with the administrators, assessors and an instructor. It was nice to relax and watch the games and cheer for our referee team. Click to continue reading...

Every year, CONCACAF organizes a course for elite level referees in the United States. This includes all the referees who participate in tournaments in CONCACAF like the Champions League, Gold Cup and FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. This year, prior to the 2009 Gold Cup, six U.S. referees were invited, of which three are participating in the Gold Cup—Terry, Jair and CJ Morgante. Click to continue reading...

Everyone today did game preparation, except for me since I have a few more days before my game. I did a high intensity training session. The workout started out with a good warm up. I walked 20 yards from the corner flag toward the goal then I turned on a diagonal, jogging forward 20 yards, then turned and ran backwards to the sideline. Click to continue reading...

Today, we woke up in Columbus, Ohio to get ready for our upcoming match. After breakfast we got a bus and went to a soccer field where we did a medium intensity training for 90 minutes, doing a good warm up and interval runs like we would do in a game—some jogging, some full sprints, running backwards and changing back and forth along with some slower walking for recovery. Click to continue reading...

This morning we woke up to head out for the next venue. Our flight departed at ten in the morning. CONCACAF organized for us to fly a charter flight from Long Beach, CA to Columbus, Ohio, along with the other referees that officiated the first two matches at the Home Depot. We also flew with the Jamaican national team and the El Salvador national team. Click to continue reading...

After days of training and preparation, today was game day. We were working the opening match between Canada and Jamaica. Here is a run down of the day: We woke up and had breakfast and started making plans for the match. We then got some rest and had lunch while we did our pre-game preparation. We like to do our pre-game before we go to the stadium because at these events you never know what is Click to continue reading...

The last day of the seminar was today. We had a full day of class, which was focused on making sure we are all on the same page with the things we had covered and a few other subjects were covered too. Then we had another session of practical out on the field. This was more focused and more intense to help us make those decision that we need to work together to get right. Click to continue reading...

Today we started off with a pool workout as a way to recover from the fitness test we took yesterday. This is a great way to help the body repair and get back to being ready for intense workouts to come. We did resistance work, dynamic stretching, and static stretching. Then we had sessions on serious foul play, violent conduct, mass confrontation, advantage, and simulation. Click to continue reading...

Today we had a full day. We started the day by doing fitness at the Home Depot Center. The work out was low intensity, but got the blood moving and stretched the legs out from the travel to L.A. We started out slow and then did lots of motions that we would do in a game such as change of speed along with lots of dynamic stretching and doing things to make sure we were concentrating. Click to continue reading...

I got off a plane in Miami coming back to the U.S. from Trinidad & Tobago. As I turned on my phone I had several voice mails and texts. This is common when returning to the country after being gone for a few days. When I was checking my messages, I was greeted by a person from the airline saying "Congratulations"! Click to continue reading...

I would like everyone to join us for our Gold Cup experience. This is my first Gold Cup, but for Terry this will be his second. We will be informing you on a daily basis of what we are doing to get ready this tournament. We arrived last night into Long Beach, California. CONCACAF has invited 56 referees from our region to have an elite referee seminar before the kick off of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Click to continue reading...

In another segment written by a referee, get a look inside the game day experience of a referee in the WPS:This past Memorial Day Weekend, I got to referee my first WPS and first ever top level professional division match. The whole experience was awesome and amazing! I had a great crew of referees to work with and a great assessor who were able to help me along the way. Click to continue reading...