Recerts keep getting worse and worse. This year, we have about 4 hours of materiel that I could have gotten through in about 15 minutes at my own pace. Right now in the backround, there's an instructor reading through a long slide in the slowest monotone know to man...it's taking about three or four minutes for him to read what it woud take anyone with over a third grade education about 30 seconds to read by themselves. And so...many...slides. Instead of using videos for examples, they're using multiple still frames from videos for reason I can't come close to comprehending. There was one five minute manual going throught the changes to the Laws that was actually useful. The rest is the least engaging collection of lessons that I have ever experienced. And I haven't even gotten to the test yet, which if it's anything like the last few years, will be mind-bogglingly bad. Sorry to vent, but I hate doing these things so much. But at least it's online...so there's that.
Look at them as something which every year will give you something worse than your worst game. Outside that, I got nothin'.
Grrr. The continued adding of legal requirements that apply to refs (and don’t seem particularly relevant) is a growing problem for AYSO recruiting parents to volunteer as refs. “I need how many hours of training???”
Forget the parents. At least at that age, we have a sort of understanding or what its supposed to do (whether it does or not is a completely other issue). I think of the HS senior or college kid or early 20-something who was going to recert, but finds this to be a complete waste of time and chooses not to.
There is also a non-zero and very important portion of the referee community comprised of full-fledged adults that only officiate other adults. I have to believe the annual requirements around child protection (not their goal but their length, repetitiveness, irrelevance to the job, etc.) are slowly weeding out some of those individuals, particularly as said individuals get older and are doing fewer matches on their own accord anyway.
Agree--it's death by a thousand cuts. Piling on broad requirements that are designed more to give the impression that something is being done than to actually make kids safe. If they actually though there was information important for referees/umpires, then there would be a specific course relevant to what we do in those roles, which would be more streamlined than the ones that apply to coaches who have ongoing relationships with the kids.
Yeah, that's exactly the problem with all aspects of the recent....it seems that no one involvolved in creating them makes any effort to see what part actually benefits referees and what doesn't. Would it be that hard to grab a couple of refs and do a quick beta test? If nothing else, they can fix all the typos (I saw a lot this year), and nonsensical quiz questions. At best, they can point out the points that people made here, and actually make recerts that benefit us. I think part of the issue is old notion that a recert must be at least a certain amount of hours, and then they pad it with unnecessary stuff. I remember an in-person recert a while back where the instrucuctor made us sit in the class doint nothing for a half hour after he finished all the material, becasue he had to hit the full time ampount. Felt the same online this time...I did two modules this year that came right out of the new ref course. Why? Quality over quantity.
Bingo. Let me illustrate this with an example. Several years ago, when I was 18 or 19, I was doing a game with a teenage AR who was 2-3 years younger than me, around 16. We broadly knew each other outside of refereeing, went to the same high school at the same time, I had friends who were on the track team with him, etc. He didn’t have a ride home so I did the nice thing and offered to give him a ride. If I am remembering my SafeSport training correctly, these days the ride would have technically been a SafeSport violation because I was an “adult” (technically) and he was under 18, and there was no one else in the car. Call me crazy, but what a ridiculous rule. Would it be safer for him to Uber home with a complete stranger? I also think some of the other rules have unintended consequences that are bad. While well-intentioned, I don’t agree with the prohibition on adults electronically communicating with teenagers unless another adult (usually their parent) is attached. Anyone who ever was, knew, or has had a teenager should be able to see that such a requirement puts up a real communication barrier. Very difficult for a teenager to speak openly with a coach or mentor they trust if their parent (or someone they don’t know as well) needs to be attached. I think this policy does more harm than good for most teenagers by stifling communication with adults who could be positive influences. Obviously the situations that led to the creation of SafeSport are horrific, and there are unfortunately adults who abuse children and have no place in sport. There should be no tolerance for these kind of people. But lawyers have a saying, “hard cases make bad laws,” and I think SafeSport is a perfect example of that.
Not for anything, but my Safesport certification is about to expire so I just logged in to renew and, good Lord do I feel this post in my bones. The "refresher" course is just the actual course, right? Like there's no way this is shorter than the original iteration, correct? And it is all so pointless. I personally haven't officiated a youth match in about a decade. Yet I have to slog through this annually because the lawyers/bureaucrats are incapable or too unimaginative to be able to draw some distinctions? This is the type of thing where no one complains because A) it might appear you're complaining about the content & B) complaining effectively ends up costing more time than just doing the course. Again, though, the amount of adult-level referees USSF is probably losing because of this requirement has to be more than negligible; and it's a specific, experienced cohort that many local assignors desperately need for another 5-10 years of work. But I doubt anyone will ever think to reconsider the specifics around this course.
Wow! I guess I forget how long the initial course is. I would note that on that first page, I can answer "no" to the three questions in orange on the left if you actually observe my assignments (notwithstanding the occasional 17 year old that is playing adult or professional soccer). But... ah, nevermind.
Thank you for bumping the thread...brings back so many pleasant memories. Our state didn't even announce that recertification was open in August as we heard through word of mouth and waited until September to send a blast email. They didn't want anyone bothering them over the summer. My favorite memory is the "old days" before online recerts. A guy actually showed up in full uniform. He started looking at other peoples answers on the test and was ejected before he had a chance to finish the test.
I've had like four emails about needing to renew SafeSport in my inbox for a few months. I'll end up doing it, but it seems like every year it sits longer and longer until I finally do. I really have two complaints: 1. I am required to do SafeSport for USSF, for our local high school association, and to coach a different sport. And each of them require me to do SafeSport separately. I can't just say "hey, send my SafeSport to these three organizations." Which is foolish. The information doesn't change, which leads to my second point... 2. The amount of time and access that coaches and referees have with kids is night and day. Why is the referee level SafeSport the same as the coach level? I understand needing to do something for referees. The base level of interaction isn't ZERO. But it's overkill. It's not ever going to change, because no organization can say "we are now going to do less to protect kids." But yeah, I agree, there have to be referees that do mostly adult level soccer and pick up a few kids games now and again who decide it isn't worth it.
This was me. I am gobsmacked that this is true. Like, my interactions with Safesport should make me not surprised by this, but, well, I am. I thought the whole point of it being comprehensive was that it would count for everything, which leads me to your next point... Yes! I mean I am picking the narrow complaint of "I don't even referee youth soccer!" But if I did, this would be my next complaint. So much of the stuff has nothing to do with referees. And to the extent referees could be involved in observing some misconduct at matches, let's say, the same would apply to parents or grandparents or, hell, field marshals. Looking at the PDF @El Rayo Californiano linked to above, it seems the blanket requirement for referees hinges on the "position of authority over minor athletes" clause. And that's true. But it's authority for 60-90 minutes in a completely public space with spectators having access at all time. It's a very type of narrow authority, too. And it is not accompanied by any real window into the private authority that other actors (e.g., coaches) have at other times. Yeah, I don't get it. Or, I get it. But it's all fueled by laziness and lawyers/bureaucrats covering themselves legally.
Let’s not forget that your badge is a calendar year starting Jan 1 but Safesport and the BGC are both 365 days from the time you do it. So now you have potentially three different dates to manage to stay certified. When you are assigning it’s a hot mess. It’s a major PIMA to constantly have to check referee certifications in case someone has had Safesport or their BGC expire in mid season.
And of course it’s all hitting youth refs who turn 18. All of a sudden they are no longer eligible. And the closer you are to needing 80 referees for a tournament the more likely it is that half of them have something time out.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought SafeSport allowed one to go to their website, access one's most recent certification, and then provide that to the various organizations that require it, thus avoiding this unnecessary process of repetition. Also, if I recall correctly, for US Soccer's "Safeguarding" purposes, referees are considered athletes, and therefore youth referees are considered youth athletes.
Fun fact: my newest assignor has said you stop getting games 1 month prior to anything expiring so they don't have to end up removing you from an assignment. That means my certifications are only good for 11 months.
Everything about the re-certification process for the various US Soccer Referee Licenses is dumb. The referee mentor and referee coaching re-certification process is cumbersome and difficult as well. You have to record yourself giving feedback/debriefs and leading field training sessions and upload it to the learning center. Oh and the trick is the video has to be under 20MB.
Add in many if not most referees needing to now have 5+ assigning platforms to manage, along with this garbage, and USSF will cry “why are our numbers plummeting again!?!?!” Safesport for referees! Yeah, where we are deliberately told to have no physical interaction with youth players on the field, not breaking up fights, not even a touch on the back or shoulder to calm a player down or have a chat, barely even have friendly conversation with a player for fear of saying something wrong and you get in trouble, but we need to hear half an hour about what is proper conduct when an adult trainer is giving a player a massage or medical treatment in a locker room, or hotel room conduct during tournament travel, or the text messages between players and coaches. The closet thing I had to had this was having to contact a youth official about something and I had to text their parent first to allow them to text me first