Thinking about becoming a soccer official

[refnrev]

BB,
You raise an interesting question. Here's a rambling response.
I'm 47 and started my HS season yesterday and, like all first days, I'm so sore that I feel like I've been run over by a truck today. I had three HS Boys games in the tournament. Nice temperatures but very high humidity. Questions to ask yourself are:
1. Are you talking about becoming a rec league ref, USSF ref, or IHSAA?
2. How much wear and tear has your body been through? That's going to be far more important than your age.
3. What are your knees like?
4. What's your weight like?
5. What's you overall health like?
6. Do you like the smell of Biofreeze? It will be your best friend!

If your interested in rec league and younger USSF games it's not very strenuous. USSF always uses a CR and two ARs, or for little guys and girls just one person. IHSAA uses either a 3-man crew or 2-man depending upon where you are. Often the skill and strength of the schools involved determine that. If you're going the IHSAA route, you might want to do MS or JV games at first. You could also ask or just be a linesman for a year to see what it's like, but if you do that become an expert on offside! In Indiana HS you are automatically put into an association based on where you live, so you'll want to get to know the assigner if your area association uses one. Southern Indiana (at least in the Evansville area) is a soccer hot bed and I officiated a lot of games in the E'ville, Washington, Vincennes area along with the Illinois schools around there. The rural schools often have problems finding officials, unless they use assigners through one of the associations.

There are some other things to keep in mind in Indiana. It's a state where the HS and MS volleyball seasons run concurrently. Also, the HS boys and girls both play soccer in the fall, where in many states the boys play in the fall and the girls play in the spring. Also the MS soccer seasons are in the fall. If you're going to ref soccer also, you're going to have a very full fall and will probabaly want to do USSF in the Spring.

Finally, every sport has a different "feel" and "environment" than others. I've done Indiana HS and MS basketball, soccer, and volleyball. Each one is very different but I enjoyed all three. But I love soccer and recommend it highly!