West Coast Classic 2017-Refs

[Art]

True, and considering most tournament have one ref association involved the sample size of available refs is much smaller than the 1000's number thrown around here. I would guess most associations are 350-500 refs of which a % of that would be considered experienced on this site.

You will be surprised that its actually far less than that at associations I've been to. One association im apart of has 100 something in its Arbiter list, doesnt mean 100 are ready to work, out of the 100 I can say 30-40 are consistent and always ready for games. On top of that the majpr associations that have tons of fields are sampling them to other associations to get games covered. Why? Because they dont have the manpower and on top of that they cant cover that farther region, due to gas/mileage and all.

This discussion deserves a thread altogether haha.

 

[Art]

According to Cal South there are 5,853 Registered Referees for 2017. Level 9 (6.4% of total pool) being the least trained (Small Sided recreational youth games only) to Level 1 (FIFA Games/International matches etc...). (there are level 13,15 and 16 refs too, these are emeritus refs....etc - 266 such designations registered in cal south)

The overwhelming majority 4,519 out of 5,853 (77.2% are level 8 referees) level 8 referees have met the minimum requirements to referee all youth games and assistant referee in comparable games.

According to the Cal South Website Grade 8 and Grade 9 are considered Entry Level Referees. That means 83.6% of the referees are considered entry level.

There are only 442 Level 7 referees, 7.5% of the total pool. Level 7 - "All amateur youth games and adult games below the top division"

Since the overwhelming majority are Level 8 I imagine it is difficult for any club administrator to weed through the good ones and the bad ones, etc... to arrive at a good crew for a tournament. Surely there are some great Level 8 referees, that are experienced, have played the game etc... but if you are trying to recruit a bunch of refs for a tournament I imagine it could be very difficult.

Not involved enough to know, but would like it if someone could shed light on what Cal South is doing to encourage qualified refs to move through the ranks from Entry Level 8 to Level 7, and how you could possibly have more of these Qualified Level 7 Refs working youth games? Or are there different designations within Level 8 that identify experienced refs?

I looked through the most recent board meeting minutes, this does not seem to be an issue Cal South is discussing. I find it interesting that there is not referee representative on the Cal South Board of Directors? There is not even a Referee Sub Committee that I could find? If the Mission Statement is to Advance and Improve Soccer in Southern California, should this not include the referees?

Great post, great username too! You touched on a lot of good points. I'll answer your questions the best I can and provide some commentary also. First off Calsouth does nothing in trying to get us to advance further, if anything theyve made it a bit longer and dreadful to advance. I went to an RPD tonight, first one ever, easy stuff in terms of physical activity and a simple class session that involves multiple choice questions. It wasnt very creative or really advanced. These were stuff we cover at association meetings.

The issue though is why do we have to wait a year and do 5 sessions once a month to upgrade?? Like if what I saw in one session was nothing, then its not gonna be more difficult next time, theres no progression like they preach in coaching.

As for the grade levels, it wont matter for youth levels, there are some great level 8 refs, there are awful grade 6,7,8 refs. Its all about assignors bring out there and lookin at whose actually doing well and consistently.

Its funny how they mentioned "6500 refs strong" tonight at the rpd session. I'm thinking to myself "please shut your trap." Data and stats can be misleading. Assignors and associations dont have that deep of a pool to choose from. They dont address it because some referees are scared of competition. The state instruction department is lacking too.