Officiating scrimmage games is for new referees as practice is for players,
as oxygen is to breathing. Let's end hit or miss training for new referees, put stability and predictability into their training and development. Supervised scrimmage games by qualified soccer league referee mentors creates the perfect laboratory in which theory is fused into the art of officiating. Players and coaches have practices & game time to improve their skills. Why not the same thing for soccer referees?

COACHES....WE NEED YOUR HELP HERE....THE SOONER THE BETTER FOR ALL OF US!!! WE NEED YOU TO GIVE US SCRIMMAGE GAMES SO WE CAN TRAIN OUR NEW AND RELATIVELY NEW REFEREES...

Officiating in supervised scrimmage games is the life-line, so to speak, for newly licensed referees. Getting games used to be the mantra for learning how to be a good referee. Today, with creative Mentoring efforts in hand, getting supervised scrimmage games is the new mantra. At SoccerRefereeMentors.com, we take it one step further, get Mentor-supervised, in-the-game scrimmage and regular season games.

Look, players don't skip practice and expect to play on game day. Practice is required, often 2-3 times during the week. A similar training standard OF PRACTICE (officiating in mentor-supervised scrimmage games) ought to be set in every soccer league for its newly licensed referees.

Let's end hit or miss training for new referees. An organized and published schedule of pre-season and some regular season scrimmage games will create predictability and stability in their learning curve. COACHES KNOW FOR A FACT THAT WITHOUT SUCH STABILITY IN TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT OCCURS ON A HIT OR MISS BASIS.

Some leagues require a minimum number of assigned scrimmage games before giving new referees regular season games. Some leagues are thinking of non-paid assignments for new referees; some offer partial game rate pay. Some leagues offer full game pay for mentors. Still others pay a little more.

Local Referee Coordinators who host USSF Licensing classes, can you coordinate with your coaches to create pre-season and early season scrimmage games?

Can you set a standard for Licensing Class students to work two(2) games within the Licensing class -prior to getting their badge?

SOCCER LEAGUE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, IT'S TIME TO MANDATE MENTOR-SUPERVISED TRAINING FOR OUR ENTRY LEVEL REFEREES IN AT LEAST TWO(2) GAMES = EITHER PRIOR TO GETTING THEIR BADGE OR PRIOR TO THEIR UPCOMING FIRST REGULAR SEASON GAMES.

ENTRY LEVEL REFEREE TRAINING IS IN YOUR HANDS:

A) CONTRACT WITH THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS TO TEACH THE LAWS OF THE GAME, USSF.
B) REQUIRE ALL NEWLY LICENSED REFEREES TO PARTICIPATE IN AT LEAST TWO(2) MENTOR SUPERVISED SCRIMMAGE GAMES,
AND,
DIRECT YOUR COACHING COORDINATORS TO PRODUCE THE GAMES INTO WHICH YOUR GAME ASSIGNOR / REFEREE & MENTORING PROGRAM COORDINATOR WILL ASSIGN NEW REFEREES(OR STUDENTS) & QUALIFIED MENTORS.

Let us know what you think...