Junior/Youth My 2nd game - thoughts?

I had two games already, both U15 Boys. They were not the yellow of the egg, but far away from disaster. I had a spectator (someone experienced who gives me a feedback) during my 2nd game and he said he would give me a 6/10 raiting, not that bad after all for the second game. I keep noting my mistakes and looking forward to avoid them in upcoming games. My biggest mistake is that I do not really watch for off-site, I even counted a off-site goal today although it was clear off-site. I did not back off from my decision, since I realized it too late. Another mistake from me is that I have to run "better" in order to keep the ball tracked. My spectator also said that it was partly because of my running style which was making it not able for me to keep track of off-sites. Other then that I should not argue with players and come over more confident. I did not show signals for corner (he told me to whiste and point to the corner point), for goal kick/clearance (what ever is the correct word, here I should just point to the goal keeper) as well as for Throw-In ( point to the direction of the throw-in to be played.)

Things I will improve:
Offsite tracking
Hand Signals
Coming away more confident (There are situations where I am unsure of doing what, these for example)
I run quite "wide" as well as do intense workouts every 2nd day, so that boosts my confidence as well somewhat

Any thoughts? My next game is tommorow at 11:15, need to travel nearly one hour to get there... and then I will get 20€, not worth the effort. But every beginning is hard, I'll do it, onwards!
Also, how do you keep track of off-site plays? They are quite tricky.

Have a good one!
ImperialEagle

Sounds good to me, over here we don't normally whistle for a corner, goal kick or throw etc unless it's a tight call or difficult to tell whether it's a corner or goal kick. However, if the convention in your area is to whistle for corners then I'd keep doing it as the players will be expecting it.

With pointing to the goal keeper for a goal kick I'd be careful as depending on your angle and where the keeper is, if there was a 50/50 challenge before the ball goes out it "could" look like you've pointed at the penalty spot. Most of the time I doubt it would be a problem, but might be something to be aware of.

Confidence was one of my big problems last season, and while you can fake it to a point, unfortunately it's one of those things that comes with experience.

It's good that you have someone who can watch your games and give you pointers. Is this something you've arranged your self, or do people get appointed to watch all new refs.

We have mentors over here, but in some areas it can be nigh on impossible getting one. When I started I couldn't get hold of my mentor coordinator so ended up making my own arrangements.

Over here you get them once (in some cases not as well, depending if the mentor is free) when you first have your game. If you know experienced friends, you can arrange it here as well. Normally it happens seldom, first when you start and then again sometimes after some months.

Had my 3rd game and it went really nice. I whisteled off-sites as well, perhaps falsely sometimes, but for sure more right then wrong off-site situations. It is really hard as a beginner if you do not know the technique, and even then without assistants it's quite hard.

Welcome ImperialEagle. Great to hear some stories about refereeing in Germany.
So you don't have any Assistant Referees at under15 level to help with off side? Not even someone from each club?

I've been trying to get into better positions to judge offside when i don't have a reliable AR, which means more sprinting on attacks and saving some energy when play is in the midfield.
I never whistle for a corner or throw, unless the players don't realise the ball is out. And for goal kicks point to the 6 yard box without a whistle (as zarthrusta said, if you whistle and point it looks like a penalty).

Good luck and please share more of your games.

You only get ARs in higher-league games, I'd say here you get ARs only if you refer county games or higher. Germany really lacks referees.

Imperial!
The diagonal.
There was an interesting thread here a while ago that discussed how to move when you don't have ARs/CARs.
I was taught (up here in Finland) to practice the diagonal. And I agree. My take is it is much more important to watch for offside and goal/no goal that it is ball out play (in the corners where an AR would be if you had them).
By practicing the diagonal you learn erm... the diagonal!
But... I suggest you try to extend the diagonal when you are on you own with junior teams so you can get better looks at offside. It's tough and means more running and some anticipation. The players will appreciate it. The worst thing you can do is stand in the centre circle.

And watch more games on TV and some YouTube to see the ref signals