Just wondering what the statistic was for the percentage of referees that upgrade from 8 to 7. Thanks.
The numbers I have heard are that 85-90% of referees in the United States are Grade 8 (meaning 10-15 upgrade to 7 or beyond). I too am curious as to the exact number. I think USSF has a document out somewhere that lists the statistics.
Yeah, it's not very many. I am bigining to work on getting the numbers and games I need to get my 7. Weather I ever go higher or not I would at least like to get my 7.
I had the data from the 2003 USSF "soccer year". Doing the math then it was under 3% who held a badge above Grade 8. Grade 6 or better was ~1.8%.
Cause for most a Grade 8 is all they will ever need for the games that they referee. If you keep track of your games you need As Referee: 75 games As assistant: 25 games as well as like in my case instead of going to my local recertification class I would have to travel 2 hours to where the nearest grade 7 class would be. I would also most likely have to travel to get my assessment done.
True, but I know many Grade 8s who are very good and chose not to upgrade for other reasons, whether it be availability, politics, or because they are happy where they are. I also know a few Grade 7s who upgraded (or tried to) because they felt they somehow deserve it because they've been around a few years. I traveled an hour and a half for my upgrade assessment. In CT, that's considered a pretty good drive for a game. Left at 5:30 PM, did not get home until 12:30 AM. On the other hand, USSF referee "headquarters" is about a half hour away, and our high school board meetings are held just across town.
I had upgraded to 7, as I felt it distinguished me from being "just another referee" when working for assignors that didn't know me. Then I started working amateur games, and I realized it did not matter what grade you were whatsoever. There were Grade 5 referees that were absolutely crap, and Grade 8 referees that were phenomenal. They all got games, and only the good ones got the good games. I will note that most of the good ones had upgraded to 6 or 5, but they also deserved those badges. However, it wasn't unheard of for an 8 to run a middle on a good match if he was capable and the league needed him. I ran the middle on a number of good matches myself, to the point I was doing them quite regularly (not at first though!) But, to be quite honest, I got tired of always taking a back seat to guys in the "old boys club" at that level. I went through 5 upgrade assessments, and only 1 game counted as being challenging enough. I couldn't get any of the "guaranteed" challenging games, because of the old boys always getting them. I guess the assignors in CA-N would rather give the challenging games to the old boys than help a (then) 24 year old work his way up. Funny thing is, at all of the association meetings I attended they always griped about how there were no young referees working up the ranks. So I quit refereeing for a few years. It didn't seem to matter how much work and effort I wanted to put into being the best I could, when the "powers that be" were too busy patting themselves on the back to even notice. Not to mention that it took an entire day of travel to go to most of the amateur games I was assigned. There was no return on investment for me. Anyway, I'm back to officiating as a good ol' grade 8 now, and stick to the assignors and leagues that appreciate their referees. I have no aspirations of heading back up the ladder, because in the end it really doesn't go anywhere. Upgrading has never been about the standard of officiating, and I'd be surprised if it ever will be.
This is about where I am at, I have a fairly good rep with the assignors in our area. So I tend to get decent games, so often when I think about upgrading it really wont offer me any more benefits then I have now. I have often though about picking up some amateur games but between club and high school that can be as many as 5-6 games a week. Since we are hurting for officials in our area I wont have much of a chance to get away to pick up more games any way.
Hey Colin!! Local to us MOST never go past 8, why? Not worth the hassle if you only want to do youth matches, it may help you get the upper Super-Y/ODP and state cups, but knowing the assignors is worth more. I upgraded to 7 to become an instructor. Other than having to pass a fitness test, written test and assessment every year, there's really no difference local to us about 8 v 7. If you go to 6 you can get some of the upper games like possibly the phantoms etc. It's all in what you want to get out of reffing and what games you want to do.