Today I finished and completed a class for Soccer Referee Certification for the state of Georgia. I am doing it because I will get paid for refereeing games and because I LOVE soccer. I started playing soccer when I was 7 or 8, played up to U-12, took a year break, then started up again. I am playing this year in a U-16 all-girls league.
When I started the class I thought, "Well, hey, I know the sport pretty well, this will be easy." Not so. There are so many things that referees do that even after playing for all those years, I didn't even think about. For instance, a AR or an Assistant Referee (the one with the flags) has to constantly check for offside, while paying attention to the ball to see whose throw-in it is. They have to remember what flag signals to use, make sure it is the correct signal, and be the center referee's second pair of eyes.
The center referee's job is even harder. The center is often blamed for bad calls that were fair and he/she gets yelled at by parents, coaches and players. The center must watch out for fouls, correctly call goal kicks and corner kicks, decide whether or not an offence deserves a yellow or red card, be alert at all times, and keep from getting hit with the ball. They also have to remember the signals they have to do with their hands. That is just a brief summary of some of the responsibilities I learned about today.
In the class, we had to memorize half of the rules on Friday, and then I learned the other half today. We also did some practice reffing, and then took a 50 question test. I passed with an A-. I am now an official R-9 referee. I plan to ref at our local YMCA games, and look forward to doing U8s and U10s.
