Quote:
Originally Posted by ilyazhito
That's an awesome story. I wonder why there are no junior officials programs yet in the DMV, or process to get teenagers approved as VHSL, DCSAA, or MPSSAA officials. This might be very useful for kids living in DC or Baltimore.
|
1. You can't officiate VHSL contests until you are 18 and graduate HS.
2. The various youth clubs in NoVA have in-house refs. When I was a kid, it was my first job starting at age 13. It's keeping them interested that's the problem.
As I said in point 2, I started real young. I liked it, because getting chewed out didn't faze me, so long as I got paid. Yet by the time I was 18, only 1 other kid from my class of 40 was still reffing. No one likes the abuse they get from coaches and spectators, especially when you're 15 and you got a bunch of middle-aged folks flipping out cause their kid tripped and you didn't hit the whistle.
It's a great idea, and youth soccer depends on teens to ref games, but the issue, just as it is with HS associations, is retention.