US Soccer Certified Referee Mentor

Game is on! Although I have been doing my best to try and mentor 100,000's of referees and referee curious people all around the world for the past few years, now I'm going to do it in a more official capacity. A few weeks ago, I received my official certification to become a US Soccer Certified Referee Mentor. 

It took me almost 10 months, but I finally completed all of the assignments, the on-field sessions, the video analysis, the onfield mentoring, the online tests and designing my own training sessions. It is not a small endeavor. I probably spent about 40 hours cumulatively to make this happen. It costs me around $100 in fees as well.  Plus I spent numerous days away from my family on the field and not getting paid. Plus all of my other expenses. 

In summary, you really have to want to develop other people and give back to the game to become a referee mentor. It's not simple and it requires commitment. Additionally, the people who run our program here in the state of Georgia take it VERY seriously. As they should. 

Looking forward, I now plan to split my time 75/25 between being a referee on the field and being a mentor. I know I won't be able to run forever, but I never want to be away from the game I love and the referees that make it possible. Now I have another means to stay connected and engaged.

My goals for next year are to further improve the mentoring I provide and find new ways to attract and retain the referees of today and tomorrow.