Communication System

This afternoon we had a meeting regarding the Communication System, which we'll be using for the Olympics. Since only about 1/2 of the referees have used it before, we got a brief overview of how it works an some tips in its use. Each referee was then given their own system to manage for the duration of the tournament. In the attached photo you can see the bag with all the equipment. The belt in which the receiver goes around the referee/ARs waist, the receiver, the microphone/headpiece and for the 4th official the "push to talk" button. I also added my referee shoe to the photo in order to give you a sense of scale (and I don't wear size 12). For the ladies this device takes up most of the torso and you can see the size of the receiver. However in my experience at the Women's World Cup in 2007 it was very handy and although not comfortable it did not interfere, but rather offered opportunities for assistance for the referee crew. I am glad we are using the system again. With this device, the key is to keep all communication short and sweet. We'll let you know our experiences with the communication system throughout the event. We'll start by testing it out as a team in training tomorrow.