Thinking about becoming a soccer official

[BlitzkriegBob]

I am currently an NFHS softball and volleyball official, and an ASA and Little League baseball umpire. I live in a rural community in Indiana. I know we should be a hotbed for soccer since IU has such a successful program, but in my neck of the woods soccer is just a club sport with limited participation. While watching my son's high school football game last Friday, the mother of one of his teammates came over to ask me if I had ever thought about officiating soccer. She runs the soccer club and I guess she is having difficulty finding officials. I told her that I had a pretty full load of volleyball scheduled for this year and probably wouldn't be able to help her out, but she has now planted a bug in my ear about doing this.

I've always enjoyed soccer, and was in a similar situation myself as these kids since my high school in Texas in the late 70s and early 80s offered only club soccer. I would love to help out this program, but to be perfectly honest, I have a little concern about the physical requirements of officiating soccer. Volleyball is fairly effortless, and most fast pitch softball and baseball games don't have serious demands either. The only time I get a good workout is when I'm doing 4 slow pitch men's softball games as a one-man. I'm in decent shape, but I'm about to turn 43 and my body has taken a pounding over the years.

So here are my questions. How much do you typically run during a high school or middle school match? What about the assistant referee or linesman? How much training do you do to prepare for your season? What other physical demands are there? Are any of you as old as I am?

My expectations if I proceed with this would not be to officiate World Cup soccer, but merely to help out the local soccer program. In doing so, I would demand that I give the kids my best possible effort, but would like to make sure that my body can handle it before I commit to anything.

Thanks in advance for any advice, tips or suggestions you can offer.