Fort Mill Rising Senior Making A Name As A Talented Referee

At least Ross Lordo scored.

Just as Lordo slipped his shot past an onrushing goalkeeper, the netminder landed on his ankle with maximum impact.

Sure, he had a horrifically broken right ankle that would swell up so bad that surgery had to wait a week. And yes, doctors would eventually insert two titanium plates and eight screws to firm up the area that connects his foot and leg.

But at least he scored.

Inadvertently, Lordo got something else out of the December 2011 injury that derailed his soccer playing career. He became a referee. A very good one, in fact.

A rising senior at Fort Mill, Lordo was recently honored as the Upper State’s best youth soccer referee by the South Carolina Youth Soccer Association, earning the nod over 40 nominees from the roughly 1,000 young adults who referee soccer in the Palmetto State.

“This past year he really expressed interest in advancing his career, and he really showed an interest in working the higher-level games and being a good official,” said Rick Rogers, the area referee assigner who nominated Lordo for the award.

“It’s definitely a real honor,” said Lordo. “I wouldn’t be in that pool if it wasn’t for Ricky and the mentors like Bob Delaney, helping me out, especially after I got hurt.”

As part of his reward, Lordo (recently) spent (a) week in Oklahoma refereeing the Region 3 Championships, the Southern region club soccer championships that precede the national championships (held last year in Rock Hill at Manchester Meadows).

It’s an incredibly high level of soccer for a 17-year-old referee and an event where he’s surrounded by experienced and talented officials eager to share tricks of the trade.

“This week has been incredible,” he said, “just learning from them and watching them even when I’m not working games. For every game they come out and assess you on how well you did and what you need to work on. It’s just been a great learning experience.”

Lordo was a good player in his own right, a striker on Fort Mill’s varsity team and the Discoveries Soccer Club ’95 Green Premier travel team. But the ankle injury, suffered during a late 2011 National League game in Birmingham, Ala., changed Lordo’s course.

“I’d never broken anything before so I didn’t know the feeling,” he said. “Right when it happened I really wasn’t in unbearable pain. I think scoring helped me out. I probably just kind of went into shock.”

At least he scored, right? Lordo was carted off the field. His ankle wasn’t displaced but was very swollen, and a trip to the emergency room confirmed the break. The Lordoses drove back to Charlotte, Ross in the back seat with his foot propped up on the seat for about six hours.

“That’s probably the worst drive I’ve ever had,” he said calling from Oklahoma.

After the operation, Lordo set about rehabbing. He had an ambitious goal.

“He hurt it in early December,” said Ron Lordo, Ross’ father, “and it was a goal of his to be back out on the pitch in April. His orthopedic surgeon actually released him in mid-March.”

Long hours strengthening the ankle paved way for a return, but Lordo was not full-strength.

“I say I came back, it was more like I limped around,” Lordo said. “I couldn’t really do that much.”

The ankle truly required a year to get back to normal, but at least his personal disappointment was assuaged by Fort Mill’s collective success. The Yellow Jackets won the 2012 Class AAA state title.

The ankle never felt right last spring, so Lordo slogged further on down the rehab trail. He made an important and probably pretty smart decision – to sit out his junior club and high school soccer seasons. That wasn’t an easy choice for a high school sophomore.

“It was hard, especially when you go to school with the kids that you play with,” said Lordo, Fort Mill’s student body vice president. “I think once you find something else that you like to do it makes it better.”

He found that in refereeing, which he had begun just before the injury. The gig allowed him to stay involved in the game, very literally in the thick of things, while also enabling him to rehab and strengthen his ankle without the specter of another crunching tackle looming.

Lordo ended up working over 60 games this past year, including the recent under-13 club state championship game, and earned his Class 8 South Carolina referee license. He’s close to the 75 matches he needs to obtain a Class 7 license (the classes descend; a World Cup referee would be a Class 1). Lordo said his own experience as a player has impacted his refereeing career.

“I really like having the power to keep the game under control and make sure everyone stays safe,” he explained. “That’s our #1 priority, making sure kids stay safe.”

The week in Oklahoma has no doubt boosted Lordo’s confidence and knowledge as a referee, but it’s also been a stark reminder of how much he misses playing.

As he said, “I can referee my whole life.”

This coming season, he’ll give his soccer playing career one last shot. Who knows, maybe he’ll score again.