[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by Paintguru

Thanks. Yes believe me, I am getting fed up with the uniform costs in soccer, especially since I am trying to upgrade and it is "frowned upon" to not have OSI gear (that is for another thread though). The one thing we don't have in the soccer world are these summer refereeing clinics, which at $200-300, is pretty much most of my soccer uniform costs, at least for one set of shirts . One question I guess is, how often do folks go to these clinics? Are they going every year? I'm happy as long as I can recoup the costs of it reasonably quickly. I really don't care if I'm doing middle school, JV or whatever, I just want to learn how to do it and if people decide I am good at it, then they can put me wherever. Since I am used to hearing ignorant parents comment on rules and dealing with complaining coaches and players, I figure I'm half way there!

I try to do at least one camp every year. This summer I'm doing three. I'll keep doing them yearly until I believe they are no longer worth the cost to me. I attended one the summer before my first year of HS ball. It got me off to a great start.

I have no way to know how often people in your neck of the woods attend camps/clinics. But I will say this, every camp you attend that another official in your area doesn't, just shortens the time it will take to pass him/her up.