Become a Teen Referee

West Side Soccer League is looking always looking to provide rewarding volunteer experience to willing and interested young people aged ten years or older. Teen referees, once trained, can ref as little or as much as they like, choose games and age groups that work with their schedule and level of comfort/interest, and earn those critical community service hours. Being a teen referee is lots of fun, teaches leadership skills and offers an important service to the community.

Parents! Please help high school students earn service credits for being a WSSL teen referee. Please enter the contact information for your school’s service credit coordinator on this Google doc. Each season we will sent them an email explaining the benefits of being a volunteer teen referee and alert them to upcoming classes.

The training requirements for a teen referee are the same as for an adult. Teens, however, do not require a background check and are not required to provide a SSN, and they are not required to complete SafeSport training.

If new teen referees would like some help to get started, they will be paired up with an experienced referee for an initial game or two in U6-U8. The mentor referee will go through the process of talking to coaches and kids in the game and on the sideline, monitor the game and answer any questions at the breaks.

Youth referees can officiate games at two levels depending upon their training:

  • U8 Official, Safe Haven and Concussion Awareness -- These courses are required to referee at the U6, U7 and U8 levels. They are also a prerequisite for taking the Basic Referee class. (minimum age is 10 years old)
     
  • Regional Referee Training -- After taking the U8 Official course, this additional course is required to referee at the U9 level and above. At this level teams play with goalkeepers, follow the offside law and we begin using Assistant Referees. (minimum age is 12)

Information on upcoming referee training classes is available here.

Register for all in-person and online courses by logging in to eTrainU, our training website:

From any inLeague page, look for the eTrainU Graduation Cap Icon on the top-right. Click on that icon, and then click on the Login to eTrainU button on the next page. There are no separate credentials; you log in to inLeague first and then go to eTrainU from there.

Teen referees must meet the age requirements listed above. They can serve as a Center Referee for games with players at least two years younger than they are, or be an Assistant Referee up to their own age level. Note that service credits are earned both for refereeing as well as the hours spent in the training classes. Teen referees will need to take at least two games to get credit for classes.

For more information or for help getting involved, please contact John Drayton, Youth Referee Program Director.

Instructions for Signing Up as a Youth Referee

Part 1: Register as a Youth Referee with West Side Soccer League

  1. Youth volunteers must be added to the families of their parents. They cannot create accounts on their own. Existing "standalone" youth volunteers are grandfathered in, but any new youth account must be added to the family profile of an existing user, which means parents have to log in and add them. This is because AYSO requires that we send the related adult information with the youth volunteer record.

    To add a teen ref, log into your WSSL in-league account and click on Player and Volunteer Registration from the menus at the top of the page. That will take you to your family's profile.

  2. In the left box called User Account and Volunteer Registration, you will see a button to add a new user - click on that button.
     
  3. Complete the requested information for the teen referee. Under volunteer options, select "Referee" (there is no longer a box to check teen ref as the system will automatically recognize your teen as a teen ref based on the birthdate).

Part 2: Complete the referee training

The training requirements are set out on the page "How to Become an Adult Referee", and are the same for Teen referees. Before starting it is good to decide whether you want to referee games in 6U, 7U and 8U only (simpler rules and less training) or the more senior divisions 9U and up (they have goalkeepers and assistant referees and require more training).

Part 3: Sign Up on the WSSL Schedule for Games You Would like to Referee

  1. Log into your newly created WSSL account using the email and password you entered as part of the volunteer registration.
  2. Click "Referees" from the top menus.
  3. Select "Referee Schedule Sign Up" from the options.
  4. Find a game you want and click "Open".
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select "Submit Assignment Requests".
  6. Congratulations! You have done it! You are a highly valued member of the WSSL team and Referee Corps!
  7. Please contact the Teen Referee Coordinator or a Chief Referee for your division if your plans change. It is your responsibility to update your schedule if your plans change.