
Refereeing
How to use the referee schedule app
Our Volunteer Referee Staff
We have a great staff of volunteers who help recruit, train, promote, and generally support our valuable referees. They can help with training, uniforms, on-the-field mentoring, and anything else on the referee side of AYSO:
Regional Referee Administrator | Patrick Shopbell | referee@ayso13.org |
Assistant Regional Referee Administrator | Matthew Goldman | matthew@ayso13.org |
6U-8U Referee Administrator | Kai Ryssdal | ref8u@ayso13.org |
10U Referee Administrator | Rich Aguilar | ref10u@ayso13.org |
12U Referee Administrators | Brian Bonham and Matthew Goldman | ref12u@ayso13.org |
14U Referee Administrator | Mark Windsor | ref14u@ayso13.org |
Upper Division (UD) Referee Administrator | Cristi Tudusciuc | ref16u@ayso13.org |
Referee Instruction | Steve Hawkins, Chip Heller, and Steve Bickel | dri@ayso13.org |
Uniforms | DeWayne McMullin and Toni Maddison | ref-uniforms@ayso13.org |
Referee Upgrades and Assessment | Bruce Hancock | ref-assessor@ayso13.org |
How to become a referee
AYSO offers the most thorough soccer referee training program in America, providing classes, equipment, and mentoring at no charge. When your child is in the 6U-8U divisions, the officials’ primary job is to teach the players about the flow of the game. As your child grows through the divisions, moving up to 10U, 12U, 14U, and higher, the game gets more complex, and you’ll learn the referee skills needed to keep the game safe, fair, and fun.
- Apply to volunteer through the InLeague registration system (includes a background check).
- Take the online safety classes: Safe Haven, CDC Concussion Awareness, and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness.
- Adult volunteers also take the SafeSport online class and get fingerprinted by LiveScan.
- Attend an in-person training class, depending on your division.
- 8U Official – to referee 6U-8U divisions
- Regional Referee – to referee 6U, 8U, 10U and 12U divisions
- Intermediate Referee Class – for returning referees in 12U (recommended)
- Intermediate Referee Observation – before 14U
Many classes are offered at the start of the season. Register on eTrainU. You can see the calendar of training sessions on our Calendar.
Please check our Volunteer FAQ for additional details on registering and completing training courses.
Youth referees
We strongly support our youth referee program, called our PRO (Player Referee Organization) referees. Players who also referee have a deeper understanding of the game, and they are able to interact with younger players in a more unique fashion. They also receive volunteer hours! Anyone interested in becoming a youth referee should contact us at referee@ayso13.org. The training is essentially the same, except youth referees do not need background checks (although they still must register as a volunteer in InLeague), they do not take the SafeSport class, and they do not need to be fingerprinted.
Mentoring
Don’t let becoming a referee make you nervous! Even after your training, our more experienced referees are available on the field every weekend to mentor you. We do our best to locate a volunteer experienced referee to meet you at your assigned game and help you through it. When the fall schedule arrives, there will be a box to check to request a referee mentor – it’s easy!