Player Referee Organization (PRO) Youth Referee Program

The Player Referee Organization (PRO) program encourages, supports, and trains youth soccer players to volunteer within the region to referee games for younger age divisions.

A youth referee may be certified at a minimum age of 10, and is allowed to referee two age divisions down from the volunteer’s soccer age. As an example, a 12U player (or equivalent age) could referee an 8U game, but not a 10U game. Care is always taken to ensure a youth referee only officiates a level of game at which they are comfortable.

Once you get started, we offer mentoring, so youth volunteers feel supported every step of the way.

Benefits of the PRO Program

Players in the PRO program benefit from a deeper understanding of the laws of the game. They experience the game as a referee, which can help them with tactics in their own playing. In addition, many schools, especially middle and high schools require students to earn volunteer hours. The PRO program is a wonderful way to earn volunteer hours while having a great time. We even give service hours for the time spent training!

How to join the PRO Program

To get started, go to your Family Profile and click Add New User. Even if already registered as a player, you want to create a separate account for them to volunteer. (Aside: Each volunteer needs a unique email address to track their training history. If your child doesn’t already have their own email, you can use something like myname+proref@gmail.com — Gmail ignores everything between the + and the @.)

Youth volunteers complete the same set of volunteer training as adult volunteers with three key exceptions:

  1. No SafeSport class requirement
  2. No Background Checks
  3. No Fingerprinting

If you have questions about becoming a PRO ref, email proref@ayso13.org.