Referee Development

[lakeview]

Let's take a young referee, I guess around age 20, like Alex Conerly of Baton Rouge/Covington and discuss the development path of this young man, or any individual who wants to go far.

He has fitness, knowledge, enthusiasm, and the mechanics.

His dad has mentored him well. Now he need Esse and can go quite far.

I can see him in the MLS one day. Then loaned to Spain or Scottish league, or even England Second for part of a season. And maybe a World Cup at age 35.

What is the ladder of progression? I believe MLS hired 4 fulltime referees this year.

There are many keys to the development of referees. Players may also note the similarities between referees who are being developed and players who are being developed. Here are some:

Desire - the ambition and drive to excel
Willingness to accept constructive criticism - watches other referees, ask questions, listens to the older and wiser, takes advice from assessors, etc
Understanding - the understanding of the game, the players emotions, the thought processes of players
Knowledge - knowledge of the Laws and the SPIRIT of the Laws. How to apply them with fairness and justice. What the intent is, not only the letter of the Law
Courage - The courage to make difficult decisions in difficult games, knowing they may not be liked by at least 11 people. We have seen many referees make a name for themselves by making one courageous decision.
Fitness - Should be obvious. But this is a continual process.
Willingness to travel - to develop, referees must travel to tournaments around the country, ODP camps, regionals. Like any player, a referee who is showing potential must be "seen" by those in the state and at the national levels. Do well, get noticed, get opportunities, make the most of those opportunities and other opportunities will present themselves. Referees cannot advance their careers staying at one club where they get comfortable. The travel allows referees to work with not only other state referees but national referees.
Humility - the understanding that they do not know all. That there may be a better way, that their is always room to grow. The ability to put mistakes behind, learn from those and move on.
Patience - Rome wasnt built in a day and neither are referees. It takes time to develop the knowledge, expereince, etc to move up the ladder.

They must continually absorb knowledge and experience.

Alex is not alone in this area. This state has many more promising young referees who are making names for themselves inside and outside this state. I do not want to name those referees in fear of leaving some others out. But there are many who have been "seen" and continue to advance. Many of these are working PDL games, National ODP camps, National super club tournaments, regionals, etc.

For years, La referees have shown extremely well at the regional competition ending up in the top group of referees and also sending many to the National Championships. At regionals, our referees get opportunities other states do not since our teams rarely advance far and it allows those states who do not have teams in the semis/quarters, etc to showcase their referees. They do well and get more opportunities.

I am sure others have additional thoughts but these are the big ones off the top of my head. If referees want to develop, they must take the first step which is to get in touch with the State Referee Committee, assessors, instructors, state referees, etc. Just tell them you want to go down this road. There are many willing to help if the deisre, ambition, patience and drive is there.

[tonygalinto]

I think futbol is life has said just about all that can be said concerning referee development. Alex is definitely one of the brighter prospects in the state but there are others right up there with him. Within the next few years I think Louisiana will have a number of new nationals.

One of the biggest drawbacks to high level referee advancement is the ability to travel. You need to have jobs where you can miss work and possible skip school in order to work the games necessary to get assessed and looked at by the powers to be. You turn down a number of assignments because you can't get off and pretty soon you aren't asked anymore.