Youth referees

Youth refs are vital to the success of our program. Not only do they help the younger kids play, but they also get great work experience and pick up service hours along the way. We offer mentoring, so youth volunteers feel supported every step of the way and are empowered to become the future leaders of our community.

Youth Referees / PRO (Player Referee Organization)

In AYSO Region 13, we have the Player Referee Organization (PRO) program, in which players train to be referees. See the Referee hub. 

A youth referee may be certified at a minimum age of 10, and is allowed to ref two age groups down from the volunteer’s soccer age (click for soccer age chart). As an example, a 12U player (or equivalent age) could ref 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.

If you want to become a PRO ref, email referee@ayso13.org.

Youth Coaches

Officially, coaches must be 18 to be certified – no youth volunteer may supervise or manage players. We do welcome any youth who wants to help as a Youth Team Assistant, who can help with demonstrations and drills at practice. See the Coach hub.

To help out as a Youth Team Assistant, email coach@ayso13.org.

Training

To get started, go to your Family Profile and click Add New User. Even if already registered as a player, we’ll create a separate account for them to volunteer (long story, don’t ask).

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 take the same training classes as adult volunteers, except they don’t take SafeSport.

Youth volunteers do not need background checks or fingerprinting.