how do i grow to become a better referee?

[a23]

i have been keeping up with the situation dealing with referees this past year on this site. as a referee since 1998, i am still very young (only being 21 now) and I honestly look forward to many more years. I have had the honor or working with some very good referees in the Monroe and Alexandria areas. I was wondering how do I become better. I live in the northeast and want to do more to better myself, but I dont know what to do? can anyone give me suggestions?

[happyjack]

you need to travel to tournaments thru the state. the state referee committee will pay your travel and hotel for any state tournament you attend. get in touch with the state assignor or the state coordinator for referee development. both can be found on the lsa home page, and contact info is included as well. work with as many different referees as possible. if you're in the northeast, look at traveling to jackson/clinton ms. to do games there. good leagues and challenging work.

[cajunref]

You may also want to contact Alan Coco. He lives in the Alexandria area and from time to time travels to Baton Rouge for adult amateur games and premier games. Ask him to let you know when he's headed south so you can tag along. Good luck.

All good advice given. I'd also like you to contact me offline regarding some other opportunities.

[misltek]

Another thing you may want to try is soccertournament.us to find tournaments to work. I travel all over the nation and usually give 2 months notice prior to a tournament I'd like to work, just in case the SRA would like to contact mine.

[SWLASocFan]

I know it's a long drive, but if you are ever interested in refereeing in the Austin, Texas area, please let me know. Their is plenty of games, at all levels. It's worth the drive. I use to drive from Lake Charles to Austin for a weekend full of games and got great experience along with awesome pay.