I can lend you my fuchsia shirt and shorts with solid white top socks should you not be able to find yours. I also have the zebra stripes too which was required here in the 1980s to referee high school girls.
Interesting, I thought it was forbidden. (Around here it is still all volunteer—and we not infrequently get told by parents that they get better refs in the AYSO games than club. A pretty decent number of our upper division volunteer refs also do HS.)
Referee info AYSO referees are Volunteers and as such the IRS does not allow AYSO to pay volunteer referees for services rendered, however, AYSO can provide volunteers (referees, coaches, board members) with a reimburse for the cost of volunteering. AYSO can hire referees from a company that provides referees. Other soccer associations such as WYSA have fee structure they use to pay their referees
Sometimes I miss AYSO. I grew up playing it. Decided to give back to the game by getting certified to referee when I wasn't sure I would be playing for my high school (I did get cut that season). Here I am, 24 years later, still doing it, but only needing to go out Sunday afternoon for 2-3 U14 or 3-4 U12 matches was a nice schedule.
All I can say is that our Area has been paying Upper Division refs for some years now. I am not in the finance area of AYSO, but initially they paid by check, now it is all through DIVVY. Maybe it is put through as a cost of volunteering? I am not sure how that is handled on the back end. Registration fees for Upper Division is increased to cover the cost. Parents are aware of why it costs more to register a 16u -19u player vs a 10u -14u player. Oh..and the IRS is very aware.
One hypothesis -- in my area, we have refs who will spend their entire weekends chasing the money. They end up doing way too many games. They can't maintain mental focus for that long, much less keep up with play. So if you have volunteers each taking two games because there's no reason to do more, the volunteers might be dialed in for those two games.
I do think a fair part has to do with why the refs do it. You only keep volunteering as a ref if you enjoy it. I think it is hard to enjoy doing games at the level without reaching a level of expertise. And obviously with volunteering, no one is in it for the money. I also think it has to do with how AYSO runs the ref program. There are 4 levels of ref in AYSO. Regional, Intermediate, Advanced, and National. Each requires a class and a test. Intermediate and above require game assessments and minimum game count. There is typically decent mentoring help ans refs seek to advance. Advanced and National also include a running test. Typically those upper division games are having at least Advanced refs with the whistle. I think tht helps make the “floor” higher as the refs doing these games have had a good amount of support and experience by the time they are doing these games. (And to be clear, i’m not suggesting in any way that all AYSO refs are better or criticizing those who choose to only do games where they get paid.)
With respect to this, I do agree that sometimes refs over exert themselves, but at the same time, it’s usually not worth it to do youth games unless you do at least 3. The only youth games that can be taxing doing 3-4 games are MLS NEXT and boys ECNL, where assignors will usually do a CR/AR/AR 3 game rotation. Anything else, 3-4 games is not really difficult, and at this level, it’s really not a big mental stress.
I don't know, actually I sometimes find myself more tired after the lower level youth games than the MLS Next ones. MLS Next you can read play and figure out where it's going, and they pass around the back a lot. With these lower level youth games sometimes it's just long ball after long ball, you wind up doing 20 yards this way, 30 yards that way, with no hope of reading play or being proactively positioned.
Oh, they will play it around the back in the lower level games as well. And when you fnally build the confidence to give them the benefit of the doubt, that is when their stone touches take over and you are 30 yards out of position.
Right, the high level games are usually not tiring, there’s just more sprinting involved. But for those lower level kickball games… yes… just stay in the circle of excellence and you’ll frequently be close to play. No way in hell do I sprint back and forth for kickball BS. I’ll stay in the circle then jog towards the ball,
I also would like to tell people here if anyone sees it the same thing I tell others when it comes to quitting… please don’t quit refereeing because of getting treated like crap. If you’re on the verge of quitting due to that, just go crazy using the “tools” you have to deal with poor treatment. Give cards for all dissent, throw out people, clear sidelines, end games early if it comes to it. If it works, then great, you can keep reffing. If your assignors won’t back you up, then just quit anyway.
I have to confess. I hung up my refereeing shoes some 6 or 7 years ago. I'm thinking of trying to return. Do you know of referees that have done this? What was their experience like?
you nailed it 100% about AYSO refs that get their Advanced or National badges. It requires a ton of experience, learning, mentoring, and assessment. It’s pretty hard to get this far and not be a better ref. But yep, some somehow aren’t improving. Just like anything else in life, there’s some outliers. Many of us that are Advanced or National also do high school and club, but still give back time to volunteer for AYSO. Many of you should consider this. It’s a nice mix, and if you’re only doing it for money, you’ll lose sight of the beauty of the Beautiful Game.
This was me. During covid I realized that the only thing I missed was the camaraderie. I’d been serving as assignor, field coordinator, and HS coach liaison for over a decade and didn’t miss any of that. I had my replacement in place, handed things off, and walked away.
Over my time, I know of four who did. The range of period they were out was anywhere from a year to four years. In each case, they said they left because of "job reasons/family" but seemed to be happy that they returned. I only recall one or two being nervous about forgetting any of the LOTG changes during the periods they were out.
Haha, do you have some thoughts in your head you'd like to share? I'm sure there's an instructor position that could be created out there somewhere. got any thoughts on AYSO?
In my local organization, we had one referee who started as a teenager but stopped because of college. After grad school he resumed his officiating career. I do remember him saying to me when he first returned, “What the heck did they do to the drop ball?”
Timely topic for me, as I decided last fall that this spring would be my last onfield season. I had a bunch of reasons all come together. Here were the biggest. I took a new job with a lot of nighttime and unexpected commitments (CFO position for a school district) and a longer commute. This winter, I basically was working two jobs because of a superintendent search. The foot surgery I had in 2024 left me with a severed nerve that, honestly, I've never really fully recovered from. Depending on the day, I either have no feeling on the outside of my foot or a dull ache that isn't a lot of fun. Related to the point above, I know my running mechanics are off. My back and hips always hurt for 36-48 hours after a game, then I turn around and do it again. Finally, I always said the main reason I was officiating was to fund my son's club soccer activities. He's done with club now, so no need to work to fund that. My wife and I are empty nesters for the first time in our 20+ year relationship since she has a son from a previous marriage. It's time to do fun trips and activities with her now. I'm still going to coach and mentor. I also stepped away from my state's director of mentoring position. What I really want to do is mentor upper-level club, high school and college players to show that officiating is a great way to stay involved in the game when your playing days are over and how to make that transition work. That's really where my coaching passion lies, and I'm hoping our state agrees that's a viable road. It's been a great career for me. I only had two items on my bucket list - state high school semifinal whistle and state final on-field assignment - not checked off. But that's OK. I can look back on my 15+ year time onfield and know I've done a lot of good things.
This is very timely, as I hung it up in November. I, frankly, was ready to do so in November 2024 but my wife convinced me to try one more year and reduce my schedule and see if I liked it better. She was right, I did, but more in a "I get to retire on my terms and not rage quit" sort of way. I'd put my rationale in a few different buckets: 1. Health/fitness. My knees are shot. After I AR a game on turf (which is a higher and higher percentage every year) I am limping around the next day. If I'm CR and therefore need to move in multiple directions, it's two days. No amount of PT, or training, or stretching, or icing, or heating has done anything. There are some surgical options, but as my doctor put it "if you aren't running on turf or pavement, you'll never need this surgery." That inability to run on pavement or turf or a track without pain also hurts my ability to get in the shape I want or need to be in to do interesting games. 2. Coach/Parent/Administrator/Player behavior. This was my nightmare in 2024. It started with a multiple red card post match dissent debacle on the opening high school weekend. I was 4O on a college game where the losing coach picked up a trash can and threw it into the stands when his team conceded the winner late, and when I tried to call the CR over to card the coach, he refused. I twice had to stop high school games due to abuse from parents in the crowd towards players, once racial. 3. Time/Scheduling. As I put it to the high school assignors, I'm not a teacher. This isn't an afterschool gig for me to earn extra money. If I'm reffing an afternoon game, I'm taking time out from my day job that pays me a lot more than reffing ever has. And, as I moved up at work I started being able to take less time off. So, I started restricting my availability to night games during the week, which means I'm routinely getting home after 10:00. Even limiting that to one or two nights a week, it was too much. Add in weekend doubleheaders (usually on opposite ends of the state) or tournaments, and I was just never home. 4. Referee Politics. I had an (unexpected) assessment that was basically like "you clearly don't give a shit." Cool, man. I just did 100 games in less than four months, haven't seen my family in that time, destroyed my body, and lost money in the exchange. Say I have no foul recognition, man management, bad fitness, whatever. You don't get to tell me I don't care. That game was almost my "I'm done, good luck filling those 100 games" moment. I am glad I did one more year, at a slower pace (two maybe three games a week with a lot of strict geographical and time boundaries), without putting myself out there for any of the state level competitions. I got to do a final college CR on grass with ARs I really like. My last two games were at the in-town high school, doing a girls playoff quarterfinal CR and AR for the boys, on grass, my wife and dad came to watch for about the first time ever. And I got to YC a coach my last time in the middle. It felt like a much better end, and it really did feel like an end.
I've done two stints. I did 1996-2002 (age 10-16ish) and now 2011-2026 (age 25-40). I hit high school again this year for the first time in years, but with a severely restricted schedule. I mostly did single-game varsity matches two or three nights a week, club matches on the weekend. I had the honor of working four postseason high school games this season, including a state final. Then I went to a regional youth event and it hit me that I'm one of those "other guys" now. Mentors/Coaches don't have much to say, presumably because I'm not someone to develop. I'm not going anywhere beyond Referee - I'm just past it, both in age and in desire to prioritize working for other people/organizations or putting time and effort into networking or politics. What was the awesome formality of these big events, and instruction sessions, and meetings, is now a bit silly considering my realistic station in refereeing and the things I think I should be prioritizing instead, primarily work and family. I'm fitter now than I ever was in that first stint, with no significant injuries. But I've now done the highest level games I could hope to do. It was that challenge that motivated me to keep going, but I've realized I'd rather spend those hours with my wife and teenagers than at a soccer complex, even though my fellow referees are wonderful people to spend time around. Going out and nailing a game is a blast. Having coaches, parents, and grandparents thank me for doing a "good job" is awesome. I've had friends and my kid's teammates' parents tell me about other parents being so happy when they see "that referee" is doing their game. I don't have horror stories of dissent or games falling apart. But I struggle to see the "why" anymore. So, a couple days after my last few games, I'm thinking hanging it up sounds just about right. Before I hate it.