Curiously, for those that have had to move to a new state, region, or even country, how did it affect your career as a referee? How far did you move? Were the region population sizes comparable or disparate?
I moved from a place with very little soccer to one of the biggest soccer hotbeds in the country. So, it was a positive career move If you're moving, get in touch with a local assignor, and except that you're likely gonna have to do U-littles until he or someone he trusts sees you ref. Get to know the local refs and let them give you the scoop on how things are done around there, and it shouldn't be too difficult. Bear in mind that this is coming from a young, grade 8 prospective. I'm not sure what the story would be for someone at a higher level.
Find out who the SRC is where you are moving if a different state and see if your local contacts know any of them. If so a call from your contact to the new SRC goes a LONG way.
This. Have your SRA send an email/phone to the receiving SRA and SDA outlining your CV. Help your SRA by sending them a summary of your CV though (i.e. BU18 ST Cup final middle, DA game middles, Pro middles/lines, etc.). Have your SRA ASK the receiving SRA/SDA to insert you into their local SC and high level tournaments that the SRC attends to get you visibility/validation quickly. DON'T just hope that last part happens, you are wasting time, ask for it. After that, be a rock star when they do see you, then it is what it is from there.
I had the opposite experience. I moved from Ohio South with three good size cities and plenty of soccer to a small city (90k) in a state where competitive soccer is not a wide commodity state wide. It has pushed back my 7 upgrade 2 years. I went from a couple of u19s a week to 2 in a season. The one advantage was that I went from a mid range 8 in my area to an elite 8. I got 7 Premier League West games including a U18 G middle because I'm now among the cream. However, I wouldn't have gotten to this point without the number and quality of games available in Ohio.
I agree with campbed, have your SRA contact the other SRA. This can't hurt, but requires a couple things to be really helpfull: - You need to know your SRA, if not, all he can really do is say "in good standing" - Other SRA has to have some influence with assignors Remember assignors are the key. My son move to a neighboring state, had a good note from our SRA to the other SRA, even has a good reference with the assignor via a female ref, who is now a state ref in that state. they met at regional events and turns out they were in the same college. It helps.
Kind of curious if anyone who lives in a soccer-heavy area can give some personal examples regarding the commitment. Certainly people here point out the difficulties of moving up if you live in South Dakota or Vermont, but what about somewhere like Southern California or DFW? Are you still having to make make several-hour trips to do games in other major cities in the state just to move up?
We are pretty soccer heavy around Atlanta, not like CA I guess, but to answer your question we had a referee going from 7 to 6 and this is his story: http://www.intheopinionofthereferee.com/guest-blog/guest-blog-route-r-6-part-1 http://www.intheopinionofthereferee.com/guest-blog/guest-blog-route-r-6-part-2 http://www.intheopinionofthereferee.com/guest-blog/guest-blog-route-r-6-part-3 http://www.intheopinionofthereferee.com/guest-blog/guest-blog-route-r-6-part-4
Success of a move hinges on 3.5 things, in chronological order: The professional recommendation that your current SRA gives If applicable, the unofficial recommendation that your friends/acquaintances in the new state give their SRC and other referees. Your abilities on the field The relationships you build with local refs over the first 6-12 months Understand that you're basically interviewing for a job that doesn't exist. Everybody below you got demoted one notch. Everyone equal with you just got competition. Practice (learn) humility. From a smaller state to a larger state, you need to add 1 to 2 years to any plans you had to upgrade from 8 to 7. If you're above that, add two years to any upgrade plans you had. People are territorial by nature. You have to win over new friends and bosses. That takes time. Harvard isn't going to accept all the course credits from a Community College. Specific tips: Reach out to your friends/acquaintances that you've made at other tournaments and let them know you're coming to their state. You will need them to vouch for you at some point. Be humble about your past, but be confident of your abilities. Each area has the same percentage of good refs and bad refs. Quantity is what gets affected. Figure out where you're needed. Try to work for all the local assignors for a while. Get a first-hand feel for where the good refs are working. Go to all of their meetings, clinics, etc. Get a maintenance assessment as soon as you get used to the leagues. This gives you official credibility. Oftentimes, a member of the SRC will be your assessor. Find out where/if the referees in your demographic socialize and slowly work your way into that crowd. Forging off the field relationships is an important part of being welcomed and, more importantly, feeling welcomed. Minimize the references of "In [Minnesota] we did [this] instead of [that]...". The new people don't care. They know that they are either better than your previous state or are awkwardly jealous of it. People's thoughts of other states are forged by their own experiences or by sports rivalries. People in Michigan don't like Ohio, and vice versa. New York, New Jersey. Texas, Oklahoma. San Francisco, LA. Yes From my experiences, "several-hour trips" and "to...other major cities" is not mutually exclusive in those areas.
I'd rep if I could. I grew up in Chicago (Evanston). When I went to college in Dayton someone tried to set up a car pool with a fellow Chicagoan (Glen Ellyn) and was shocked to hear that two people could claim to be from the same city and live the better part of 2 hours apart from each other.
I'm not a mover. I'm a receiver and sender. Yes, depending on where you are going, your SRA's recommendation, if he knows you, will help, with the first weekend's assignments. After that, you can be sure that the assignor will be calling someone else on your crew asking, "How did the new guy do?" Understand that it will take time to get the assignors to have confidence in you. Just accept that you will be doing games at least one level below what you are used to and you're probably going to be on the line. You'll also probably be expected to cover games that are farther away, since those are the ones that assignors find hardest to cover. Remember that the assignor isn't being mean to you, isn't bullying you, isn't giving you the rookie initiation. They just don't know if they can rely on you yet, much the same as anybody local who pops up and wants to work their league for the first time. Obviously, the supply and demand for referees will play a factor in how quickly you will be accepted. Yes, as Lucky Wilbury said, you have participate in the social side of refereeing. If the guys are going out for a root beer after the game, go. Tell your significant other later why that was important. It is. And be extra careful about being by the book on stuff like how you communicate your availability, accept games, when you show up, etc. First impressions are lasting ones and you only get one chance to make a first impression. E.g. we have a referee who relocated to our area this year from three time zones away. He was a NISOA referee there and he is one here. Our chapter's expectation is that you will arrive at the game site 60 minutes before scheduled kickoff on weekends and 45 minutes on weekdays. He has arrived at the game site 30 minutes before kickoff or less at least three times this year. Guess what the assignor is thinking about him? Yeah. Don't be 'that guy.' A lot of the promotion/upgrade/etc. stuff is affected by how many games there are in your new area and how many referees there are. That may alter your referee career path plans, either for the good or the bad, but there isn't a lot you can do about it.