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Nova Scotia welcomes FIFA referee Beaudoin

22.01

Soccer NS is excited to welcome FIFA referee Marie-Soleil Beaudoin to Nova Scotia. Beaudoin is from Quebec City, QC, but spent most of the last 8 years in Guelph, Ontario and in British Columbia. She brings with her an array of accomplishments, experiences and above all a deep passion for the game and refereeing. �We are very fortunate to have her skills both on and off the field,� says Carman King, Soccer NS Referee Development Officer. �Her knowledge and understanding of the game as it is played at the top level will benefit players, coaches and officials alike.�

In 11 short years Beaudoin has accomplished more than many referees hope to attain in a lifetime. Coming from a soccer family, she began her path in the game playing and then later coaching. At the age of 20 years she started her career as an official in Quebec City in 2003. Beginning at the district level in her hometown, Beaudoin worked her way through the CSA referee pathway. Pursuing her education at the same time, she moved to Guelph to study health sciences and it was here that her career on the pitch took off. Beaudoin earned her regional badge in 2008, her provincial status in 2009 and her national certification in 2013. She was able to excel in a short period of time and earned her FIFA badge in 2014. �I�ve always said it was more of a dream than a goal. Like a far goal,� says Beaudoin about earning her FIFA badge. �There are so few of us in Canada that you think maybe I�ll be lucky enough but maybe not.�

Beaudoin is one of only 14 officials (seven referees and seven assistant referees) across the entire country who are currently certified as FIFA referees. There were many defining moments that allowed her to reach that level but one special opportunity that stands out was being named to the Boys U15 CONCACAF tournament in the Cayman Islands in the summer of 2013. Beaudoin did not have her FIFA badge at the time but Canada Soccer trusted she would do well. This was a special appointment as typically at the international level, female referees are appointed to female tournaments and male referees are appointed to male tournaments. Of the 60 referees at this tournament, Beaudoin cracked onto the sheet along with four other females. Not only did she exceed her expectations in being appointed to the tournament, she performed so well that she was chosen to referee the final match. �I think it made it a little more special that it was actually a woman referring a boys� final,� says Beaudoin. �I actually had some local women that came to talk to me and said �you know I�ve always loved the sport but I never thought about refereeing and now that I see you, I think I could do it.� As a referee, that is so rewarding.� In light of her achievements, in 2014 Beaudoin received the Ray Morgan Memorial Award from the Canadian Soccer Association, presented to the referee who has shown the greatest progress at the national and international levels.

Now 2015, Beaudoin finds herself in Halifax working as she accepted a new position at Dalhousie University. She will be refereeing in the NSSL Premiership and Tier 1 league. No matter what level she officiates, Beaudoin says she loves the challenge that comes along with the position. �It doesn�t matter which game I do whether it�s an international game or a local game. I�m always going to have butterflies at the start and it�s a constant challenge to make the right decisions,� says Beaudoin. �You strive to get the perfect game but that�s never going to happen. So that continuous challenge to strive to get better and better is something I enjoy.� Preparation is a major component Beaudoin focuses on to meet these challenges on the field. Before officiating her first NSSL Premiership game, she talked to local officials to learn about the players and teams. She stresses the importance of getting lots of information before the game so she knows what to expect. In international matches, Beaudoin says mental preparation has been key. �FIFA provides mental preparation tools like podcasts that we can listen to, it�s 20 minutes of relaxation and focus. I use a lot of visualization,� says Beaudoin. �Trying to be as prepared as possible is important so when things happen on the field, you know exactly how to react.�

Beaudoin is a very welcomed addition to our Soccer NS community and will prove invaluable to players, coaches and especially fellow referees. �Her experience in high level training courses and games will bring a wealth of knowledge and understanding to the officials. The expertise that she has from her education in nutrition and physical wellness will also be a valuable resource,� says King. �She is a role model to our female referees, showing that with hard work and dedication, making it to the top of the game is possible.� At the top of the game, soccer has taken Beaudoin from Jamaica and the British Virgin Islands to the United States, across Canada and beyond. Now residing on the East Coast, she looks forward to new challenges and opportunities the beautiful game provides.

Source: Soccer NS

Appointments

FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers � CONCACAF (Round 2)

11.10

Appointments

FIFA Women�s World Cup 2015 � Group Stage

20.43

Interviews

Holding all the cards: Chenard at the 2015 Women's World Cup

20.30

Carol Anne Chenard says it may be a bad analogy, but dodgeball is the best comparison she can make for preparing officiate international women�s soccer. Part of it, obviously, is that the referee really doesn�t want to get struck by the ball, but Chenard says it�s also about juggling many things at the same time. �You have lots of things coming at you at once, so you need to have a really good view, a peripheral view, watching everything,� she says, �and working as a team. When there�s that last person out and you have three balls on your team and you want to co-ordinate, get people to work with you.� In international soccer terms, the 38-year-old Ottawa resident has been doing all that for nearly a decade, including the 2011 Women�s World Cup in Germany, but this year�s championship is special because it�s her one and only World Cup assignment in her home country. �The opportunity to officiate at a World Cup is a huge honour, but I think it takes on a whole new meaning when it�s in your own country,� Chenard says. �Obviously it adds a little bit of pressure, but I have worked really hard to get where I am and to be able to show people who I care about � my friends, my family, people who follow me, other referees � to show them really what it means to be at the top�.

Chenard was among the candidates placed on a provisional list of 2015 World Cup referees three years ago. Following �training camps� in May 2014 in Switzerland and in February in Portugal, the international governing body for soccer included her and Michelle Pye of Kamloops, B.C., among 29 referees assigned to the competition scheduled for Ottawa and five other cities between June 6 and July 5. Marie-Jos�e Charbonneau of Mascouche, Que., and Suzanne Morisset of Beauport, Que., are among 44 assistant referees. All of them attended a late April camp in Switzerland, where the agenda included fitness testing, on-field technical sessions and instruction on the goal-line technology that will be used during the World Cup. The three Canadians, plus a fourth official from this country, worked together in a United States-New Zealand �friendly� at St. Louis on April 4, but there�s no guarantee Chenard, Charbonneau and Morisset will collaborate during the World Cup. Nor are they assured of more than one assignment each. As Canadians, they won�t officiate games involving the home team. As well, it�s likely they�ll have to watch from the stands for matches involving sister CONCACAF sides from the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica. Then there�s performance. Officials will be graded during each match and subsequent assignments will be based on those assessments. No assignments will be disclosed until 48-72 hours before each match commences. Chenard worked four games during the 2011 World Cup in Germany, and she called the Germany-Nigeria finals of the past two Under-20 World Cup tournaments, including last year in Montreal. �My goal is to not give them a reason to not give me another game, to perform and make sure that it�s not because of something I did on the field or something that I can control that is the reason I don�t get another game,� she says. �I just make sure I�m prepared.� The daughter of international speed skating officials and a former competitor in that sport, soccer, basketball and volleyball, Chenard now puts her McGill University PhD in microbiology and immunology to good use for Health Canada. Despite recently moving into a new position, she had to book herself off work between May 27, start of another pre-tournament camp at Vancouver, and one day after the July 5 final in that B.C. city. There are interim �release dates� as some officials return home to mirror a reduced number of teams still competing for the World Cup trophy. �You never know until 24 hours before, when they announce who�s staying and who�s going, and that�s maybe a difficult part of it because (only) some of it you can control,� Chenard says. �The better the Canadian women�s soccer team does, the less opportunity I have nearing the end of the tournament.� Last year�s Under-20 World Cup marked Chenard�s third Under-20 World Cup, starting with 2008 in Chile. She was also on the roster of officials for 2012 London Olympic soccer and assorted other national and international championships. As for Women�s World Cups opportunities, however, all that remain are this year in Canada and, perhaps 2019 in France. After that, Chenard will be past the age limit of 45 for international-level soccer referees. �Right now I�m having fun, I�m enjoying it,� she says. �My goal is the next World Cup. I�ll look at it after, but I don�t foresee stopping any time in the near future, unless something happens. Right now I�m enjoying myself and I�ll be as ready as I can be�.

Source: Ottawa Citizen