How to Continue to be a Referee

In order to remain certified as a USSF Referee, there are certain requirements which vary based on which Grade of referee you are.
What Grade referee are you?

It doesn’t matter what grade you are in school, if you are a student.   USSF (United State Soccer Federation) referees achieve grades from 9 (Recreational Referee) to 1 (FIFA Referee).  Grade 9 referees do the lowest level youth matches  while Grade 1 referees are centers on international, MLS, and, potentially, FIFA World Cup matches.

Grade 9 – Recreational Referee
Grade 8 – Referee (youth matches)
Grade 7 – Referee (certified to do adult matches)
Grade 6 – State Referee
Grade 5 – National Candidate
Grade 4 – National Official
Grade 3 – Professional Official
Grade 2 – International Assistant Referee (FIFA badge)

Grade 1 – International Referee (FIFA badge)

Over 96% of all referees in Southern California are USSF Grade 8 or Grade 9 referees.  If you attended a 2-day classroom training (prior to 2014), or a 4-hour field training session (2014 or later), you are a Grade 8 referee.  If you did everything online, only, you are a Grade 9.  If your certification is current (your badge has the current year on it), you can check your grade by looking yourself up on Cal South’s Registered Officials List here: http://www.calsouth.com/en/referees/officials-list/

Grade 9

If you are a Grade 9 referee, you are able to referee Recreational and Signature matches as either the center or assistant referee up to U14.  Additionally, you can be assigned as an assistant referee on competitive/club matches.

You have no annual requirement to attend monthly training.

In order to recertify, you simply pay your $40 to Cal South, re-watch the current Grade 9 videos from U.S. Soccer and your badge is mailed to you.  The link for you to re-certify is here: http://cysa.affinitysoccer.com/eventmanager/public/calendarlist.asp?calguid=&eventtab=current – Select “Referee Recertification Class” from the Event type list and choose Grade 9.

 

If you don’t know your username/password, contact Cal South tech support.  You will need that username/password every year, so it’s best to remember it.

Grade 8

If you are a Grade 8 referee, you are certified to referee any youth soccer match up to U19 club/competitive as either a center or assistant referee.

You are required to obtain 5 hours of in-service training each calendar year in order to qualify for re-certification.

Every month, you may obtain one hour of training by attending the monthly meeting of any Cal South registered referee association or Recreational Referee Organization, such as JUSA.  JUSA meetings vary in day each month as posted on http://www.jusareferees.org/info/upcoming-meetings/ .  Other referee associations hold their meetings on specific days each month, such as the 3rd Wednesday of the month.  Some of the local associations include NOCRA (www.nocra.com), OCSRA (www.ocsra.org) and LBSRA (www.lbsra.com). You may attend their monthly meetings to get your one hour of credit.  Be sure to sign-in on their meeting roster to get credit for attending. You may only get one hour of credit per month since all the associations teach the same lesson, as provided by Cal South.

There are also online options for obtaining your monthly hours at http://www.refereeinstructiononline.com/

In order to recertify, as long as you have your 5 hours of in-service training, you pay $55 to Cal South and re-watch the current Grade 8 videos from U.S. Soccer and your badge will be mailed to you.  The link for you to re-certify is here: http://cysa.affinitysoccer.com/eventmanager/public/calendarlist.asp?calguid=&eventtab=current – Select “Referee Recertification Class” from the Event type list and choose Grade 8.

 

Again, if you don’t know your username/password, contact Cal South tech support.  You will need that username/password every year, so it’s best to remember it.
Risk Management

If you are 18 or over, or as soon as you turn 18, you are required by Cal South to obtain one-time Risk Management/fingerprinting.  This connects your Department of Justice records to Cal South in case you are convicted of crimes in the future which would be problematic for those who deal with children.

JUSA cannot allow anyone 18 or over to referee games without completing Risk Management.

The best way to do your risk management is at the fall JUSA  coaches’ meeting which takes place in late July where JUSA covers the cost of the fingerprinting.  After that, you will have to go to an independent location that does fingerprinting or to a local police station.  The fees charged vary greatly.  Cal South provides information here: http://www.calsouth.com/en/risk-management/

If you have any questions about your re-certification or your status as a referee such as grade, number of hours you’ve completed, etc., contact the Referee Education Coordinator & Registrar at refereeregistration@calsouth.com.

The JUSA Director of Referees cannot answer your questions since certification is done by Cal South, not JUSA.