How to recruit new referees?

Have you talked to people who are USSF referees but not high school referees?

 

Have posters around, having a little meet’n’greet session with the players after their last match of the season and give the opportunity to learn of the alternative.

Growing up in Ohio, all I saw were older gents doing refs so I figured that reffing was some kind of job that you had to build up to. I didn’t realize it was something I could do, even at age 15, with a class and some hours of learning.

I never saw a flier or heard of any refereeing initiatives. Maybe it’s was just my area of Ohio (near Dayton) and maybe things changed now, but if i knew what i knew now, I would have signed up!

 

In eastern CT, the requirements to be a HS ref are 1) out of HS 2) can be there at 3:30. Helpful if you can blow a whistle and walk/run at same time, but.............we got a JV game for you

I know the current HS assignor reaches out to area youth assignors like me to try to recruit refs who are graduating HS and staying in the area. He has also put ads in the paper. He holds several meet and greets every summer with prospective refs to get them up to speed.

Another great source is the local colleges. Kids who reffed in their home towns come in and have no clue about the local reffing scene. If you can find them and they are willing to work, they are often excellent refs.

 

I don't do HS--in significant part because it is unrealistic for me to get to game times. When my daughter played HS JV for a small girl's school in Southern California, I was intrigued by the refs they got--they got a few really good refs. And some, well, they had a pulse and could blow a whistle (I've mentioned the dual ref who stood a yard onto the field next to the goal post on a PK on here before . . .)

But I think that is one of the biggest challenges--finding people who can make the schedule work.

 

The problem we have with college kids is that they invariably end up with a 4:00 class. That means they can only work varsity games locally. Two thirds of our games are an hour away from where most refs live.

We always tell them to leave Tuesday and Friday afternoons open, but they seem to think college comes first.

 

He recruits young referees by putting an ad in the paper? Jumpin catfish, what's a paper?

We talk to refs that are doing USSF games and inquire whether they'd be interested in doing HS.

Obviously, 4:00 starts for JV/Freshman/MS games means that we get to use retirees, the unemployed, college students, and people with flexible schedules for those games. Even 5:30 starts can be dicey for many potential refs. I try to convince ADs to do 5:30/7:00 double headers, but you know, they'd rather go home at 7:30 than 9:30...