Kit posted this in another thread but I thought it needed its own. So what are the requirements in your state? I don't do HS, but I'm curious of the differences.
North Carolina Register online and pay a registration fee Register with a booking association, any fees for that can be no more than one game fee Attend a rules clinic Pass the NFHS exam Participate in 1 scrimmage Online concussion training To become playoff eligible Participate in 3 or more scrimmages (3 is the most you get credit for) Attend local clinics on different topics Work a certain number of matches
Alabama Pass an exam online (so open book), pay your association dues. That's it. You are immediately "qualified" to do whatever level and assignments are at the discretion of your assignor (duh). You are expected to attend a certain number of local association meetings before doing games. For playoffs your local assignor can recommend you to the state assignor, and can nominate you to the pool of refs that do the final four.
Kentucky Pay registration Part I test online (open-book) State rules clinic (online) *optional Attend local association meetings *optional Not much too it. No restriction from the state as far as what level games you can work. I guess that is left up to the local assignor.
Georgia is about like this except the online rules clinic is mandatory. Being selected for Play-offs is by association nomination. You attend a short meeting, and get on the state assignors account.
Arkansas is similar to Kentucky (and Georgia). Be at least 18 years old Pay registration Score at least 70% on the NFHS Part I test online (open-book) View the state rules clinic (online) Meet those requirements and you can referee varsity games from day one (assignor willing). If you want to advance to a higher "division" there are minimum game count and higher test score requirements, along with Attend annual statewide referee clinic Attend district business meeting every other year Turn in your game count at the end of the season In some other sports the referee's division level supposedly affects playoff eligibility. With soccer, if the state games assignor wants you to work playoff games, your division level is irrelevant. FWIW, all varsity games (regular season and playoff) in Arkansas are officiated using the DSC barring a referee shortage that day. JV games are either DSC or solo depending on the school. Most, but not all, referees are USSF certified as well.
Wisconsin- Pay registration fee. They have an online rules presentation and online exam, but not required for any level of games - and lately not even necessary for playoff games to some extent. I know of a few high level referees from USSF that just pay the fee and get the games they want.
Minnesota: Varsity: - pay fee - pass open book test - attend clinic a minimum of once every 3 years - know assignor JV and below: - have a pulse
Oregon: Pay registration fee on-line, which gets you the badge, rule book and the pre-season guide published by Referee magazine When you register, you affiliate with a local association Complete the on-line concussion training, required by state law Pass the NFHS on line test, 70% to be eligible to do games (three attempts to pass permitted), 90% required to do any playoff game 10 hours of training required per year, although USSF and/or NISOA training counts and some associations offer/require/expect a physical fitness test which also counts as an hour of instruction To do playoff games, you must have: Passed NFHS test with 90% Be or have been at least a grade 8 USSF referee at some time in your life Have three years of high school soccer refereeing experience (First round playoff games are assigned by the home school's regular association's "commissioner." (i.e. assignor) After the first round, associations are assigned playoff games and the commissioner chooses the referees from those who are playoff eligible. Smaller associations can only do playoff games outside their normal service area. State championship games: You must, of course, be playoff eligible Local associations are given a certain number of referees to nominate, determined by the percentage of high schools in the state with soccer programs that they serve. Nominees are usually selected by the local association's board, with significant input from the commissioner. The State Rules Interpreter (me) then assigns nominees to specific games and positions. I try to discourage associations from nominating the same people in consecutive years. If an association does anyway, the referee will not be on the same game and they will not have the same position that they had the previous year. Oh, and we use USSF uniforms.
In New York, high school referees wear the NISOA uniforms although my local association has said we can wear whatever soccer uniforms we want as long as we match our partner. However, fir playoffs, we must wear the NISOA uniforms. And most "high school sports officials" who officiate soccer games only have the yellow NISOA shirt.
Oklahoma Pay fee on arbiter. Take nfhs rule test on arbiter. Take online concussion course. For playoffs you're suppose to take once a year meeting either online or in person. First two rounds are assigned by the local referee assignors. East side the state + Enid is assigned by the east side assignor (the entire eastern half the state is assigned by the same assigning team), while the west side (generally the greater OKC metro area schools) is assigned by the west side assignor. There are other assignors on the west side but their schools are less likely to make the playoffs. Additionally for the first two rounds the schools turn in ten names that they want and one they don't want to the assignor. From there the assignor assigns three referees that are acceptable to both schools. For the semis and finals the assignments are made by a committee. A level of politics that I don't fully understand. One caveat that I do know is that each school gets to make one official to the scratch list, and the officials from that scratch list are scratched from doing semis and finals for that division. Uniforms: only requirement is that the crew matches and we shouldn't be wearing ussf two stripe socks. (Many crews prefer to wear it and even see finals crews wearing them) (Also it's not uncommon for crews to wear nisoa or Adidas uniforms, I have 3 sets of the 2014s for this purpose) The two main assignor groups are also assign or formerly assigned college games in the state. Are East side assignor additionally assigns the two wpsl teams home games. I can't speak for the west side but the majority of officials on the east side come from a ussf background. As far as mechanics go, our last two rule interpreters have encouraged us to use fifa mechanics over any confusing nfhs signals. We do use the clock stop signal though.
Pennsylvania With this, you are in: Pay $30 to the state ass'n. Hope somebody tells you that a) NFHS rules exist and b) gets them to you. Pass a written test (75%, closed-book, see above). Submit $45 worth of background checks Pay dues to join a local chapter, i.e. get on an Assignor's list. First year in my chapter was I think $35. Get you a Zebra shirt if you don't already have one from [spring/winter HS sport]. Mandatory state rules meeting August each year. Coaches attend the first bit of this meeting. Know and apply the full gamut of NFHS signals including the ones most of you dropped. Assignments are theoretically open to all, no formal probationary period. On an ongoing basis you must: Have attended at least 6 ~weekly meetings during the previous fall season Pay the state ass'n another $30 Pay the chapter $45 Re-up your clearances every 3 years In my District (there are 12), rookie refs don't get playoff games. 2nd-year et seq. are eligible, assignments based on recommendations including chapter leadership and coaches (?). For State playoffs you must have attended a State clinic in the last 3 (?) years in order to be eligible.
I have been fortunate in avoiding "high school sports officials" so far, but it has been a close thing. Soccer referees are relatively few in number in my area of the state, but a couple of years ago a new name appeared on the list. The assignor called me to find out if I knew him, but all I could tell him was that he had never refereed USSF in our area. I was assigned to work with him early in the season, but he was pulled from the game a day or two before. The assignor described to me his conversation with the guy, and it went something like this: Assignor: I see you signed up to referee high school soccer this year. Have you refereed it before? New Guy: No Assignor: OK, are you familiar with the rules? New Guy: Sort of. It doesn't look that hard. Assignor: Do you have the uniform? New Guy: No Assignor: That's OK, I can loan you a jersey until you get one. Can you work games at 5:00 and 7:00 in (neighboring town) on Thursday? New Guy: It's supposed to rain on Thursday. I won't do games if it is raining. Assignor: OK, thanks anyway. The assignor never called him again. Fortunately.
My son has been playing school soccer for the past 3 years so I have been attending a lot more matches. Lets just say the 'bad soccer refs' are a refreshing breath of air. Watching a baseball umpire wrapped in neoprene wobble on half a soccer field is a bit too much to take.
Dave was a guy that I worked with occasionally, back in the bad old days. Dave did not do USSF but he was a NISOA official and a basketball official for small colleges and maybe high school too. My second year, I'm assigned to do a dual with him on the first game of the year. Varsity boys non-league game but, when I showed up for the game, I sensed a very strong dislike between the teams. No Dave. I tell the coaches the situation and they were fine with some delay but, by 10 minutes after scheduled kickoff, I was going to have to do the game solo. I am literally raising the whistle to my mouth when I hear a shout "Here comes the other ref!" Parking was just off the field and he gets out of his car and comes onto the field, as the players wait for him. Whew. My pre-game from him (he was supposed to be R1) consisted of yelling "My watch is official, partner!" Not ten minutes later, there's a foul and he decides that a card is also appropriate. Time stops. About a minute later, he realizes he did not restart his watch, so he yells "You got the time, partner!" Yeah, he hadn't bothered to even learn my name from the assignment sheets. A few years later, his high school career kind of came to an end. Girls varsity game, DSC and I'm AR1. He had been a substitute teacher at the home school that day and had several of their players in his classes. He's using those players first names when he's talking to them. Ball goes in the back of the net. I'm standing still because I don't like it. He doesn't bother to look at me. As he walks back towards the halfway line for a kick off, I call his name and he comes over. "She punches the ball in with her fist." "Oh, okay. No goal, girls, no goal." No card issued for deliberately trying to score with her hand. And in the second half, a visiting team player is down, in her own penalty area and not moving. He allows play to continue. And continue. And continue, with the ball flying around and over her. After several excruciating minutes, the ball went out and he, finally, calls on the coach. Her mom takes her to the emergency room. As fate would have it, her mom is a friend of the assignor. The assignor's daughter, who played for a different school, also ended up in the emergency room that night. The two moms talk about what happened. Let's just say that seeing what happened and hearing about the emergency room discussion from the assignor later, I learned that you want your boss to be the first one to find out that you screwed up and they need to hear it from you.
As I said in the other thread, in Michigan: Pay the fee. Take the online, open book, open note, open friend, untimed test that has zero to do with soccer. Find an assignor willing to assign you games. I'm hopeful that I'm wrong and that a concussion course is required, but I think it's only required below: For playoff games: attend the (online) annual rules meeting, which includes concussion protocol Be a member in good standing of a local approved officials association Submit a schedule to the state association showing at least 10 varsity games officiated this season Have 3 years of ratings from coaches with an average of "3" or better. I don't think I've ever seen an official with an average that's worse than 3. First 2-3 rounds of the playoffs ("Districts") are assigned by the host school. Districts are assigned by school size (division), and then geographically, with each District having an identified "host" school. District semi-finals and finals are always hosted by selected district host school, but first round games can be hosted by the school listed as the "home" team on the theoretically These requirements are sometimes overlooked if an early round playoff game needs to be filled. For Regionals and Finals (Sweet 16 and beyond for each division): All of the above, plus: Pass an on-line rules test, which is almost entirely about rules changes for this year Be nominated for CR and/or AR consideration by local assignors Be nominated for CR and/or AR consideration by athletic directors These requirements are sometimes overlooked (e.g. submit a schedule) in the case of known referees We do wear USSF jerseys of any of the 5 colors (plus Magenta is still on the approved alternate list. I've never seen one worn). The guidebook says socks with three white stripes, but I can't imagine anyone having heartburn if you wore USSF two-stripes on a game below a state championship. The multi-sport guys who show up at the field with just their yellow pinstripe shirt annoy me. If I am the CR, I will usually send them back to their car to get another color. Which they tell me they don't have. So I lend them one in a size/sleeve length that is likely uncomfortable. I'm just a douche that way.
Texas Pay state dues Take online clinic Pass online, open-book exam Pay local chapter dues. Assignment varies by chapter. Many are at the warm body stage for games. Most chapters try to get three refs on higher level games, but I gather that some of the metro areas have too many games and not enough referees. We are starting to see more and more small schools add soccer. That has meant that our chapter has been doing duals for many games, in spite of district rules that "require" three refs. First several rounds of playoffs are assigned by chapters (schools agree to which chapters they will accept). Regionals and higher are supposed to be based on merit, chapters nominate their top refs. They recently added some physical testing requirements because some of the top refs couldn't run.
About 3-4 years ago I watched a state HS playoff match with a referee easily 300 lbs with all the moves of an oak tree. Wasn't a "top" ref IMO either, clearly a product of the "good old boy" system. So the physical testing is a good thing, provided it is enforced. (Disclosure: I gave up HS refereeing a very long time ago after only one season.) PH
My HS association has made significant inroads into coming towards the 21st century. This is New Jersey. Other parts of the state might have different procedures. Here's our setup. You have to attend a weekend course to be accepted into the association. Then a mandatory State Rules meeting, then three other meetings in season. In your first few years, you will receive only sub varsity matches. And some middle school, unless you ask for and receive a passing assessment because of your USSF tenure. Then, you are eligible for Varsity. All matches are duals, and the pay is 82 for V and 60 for Sub. We have our own jerseys now. Duals switch to DSC later in State Tournament. Old boy network slowly going away due to recent rash of obituaries. I have 12 years at Grade 8. Third year of HS. I have done 1 varsity game. I will get more this year.
It could be worse. I am told that new high school basketball officials in our area will wait nine to ten years before they get a varsity assignment and then it's going to be some school with 80 students playing one with 65. My first year doing high school soccer was my first year as a referee. With roughly six months experience doing U-14's and the like, I was doing varsity games from the start of the season. I think it was two weeks before I did a sub-varsity game. Fortunately, we have more referees now but still not enough for DSC on all afternoon varsity games. JV is usually a dual and JV2/freshman is always solo (and could usually be done from a lawn chair at the halfway line.)
South Carolina Sign up with SCHSL and pay fee online then Meet assignor Take open book test Talk about rule changes There is an optional clinic you can go to with Skip. Playoffs are decided by local assignors Georgia Register and pay fee through your local association Attend clinic online Pass 50 question test online (need an 80 or higher for playoff games) Do the childsafe thing to say your not a perv. Playoffs: Make sure you get an 80 or higher on the test Kiss your assignor's ass and Kay's Watch the same boring slide show year after year narrated by Studdering John Answer three questions about the slide show