Adults and youth at least 12 years old can take the referee training.  You don't have to know anything about soccer before taking the training - we will teach you what you need to know.

Regardless of the type of course, be sure to enroll for the course at the AYSO U web site and be sure to do so early.  We may cancel the course if we don't have enough people enrolled for the course by a certain date a few days before the course.  See our general Volunteer information page for more information how to enroll.  If you have difficulty enrolling, send an email to the course contact to let him or her know you intend to attend the training but haven't been able to enroll.  The lead instructor's contact information should be given with the course announcement at the http://www.aysoregion390.org web site.  Be sure to let him or her know before the Thursday before the training because that is when we make the decision about whether there are enough people enrolled to take the course.

You must take the Safe Haven course available at the AYSO U web site.  This is required to interact with youth or VIP players and volunteers, and we may be doing that during the referee training.

The Full-Day In-Person course is called the Basic Referee Course.   It involves some classroom presentations and some work on the soccer field, so you should wear comfortable clothes and appropriate footwear.  (Soccer cleats are not required, tennis shoes are fine for the training.)  At the end of the training we give the Basic Referee exam.  Taking the training and passing the exam are both required to receive the AYSO Regional Referee certification, but we cover everything you need to know to pass the exam during the training.

Although this type of training takes the better part of one day, it has the advantage that at least one instructor is available to answer your questions throughout the day.

Other than registering as a volunteer, and enrolling for the course, you don't have to do anything before attending this type of training.  However, you may find it helpful to take the online Basic Referee training offered at the AYSO U web site before attending the course.  (Note that there may be a small charge for taking this online training.)  You will need your username and password from the  AYSO Region 390 registration web site to take this online training.

Sometimes we offer our basic referee training as part online, and part in-person training.  You can take the online part of the training whenever it fits into your schedule.  The online training is offered at the AYSO U web site.  You will need your username and password that you used to register with the AYSO Region 390 registration web site to take this online training.

After completing the online training, you take the in-person Basic Referee Online Companion Course. The in-person training mainly involves work on the soccer field, but we also review what you learned online.  At the end of the training, we give the Basic Referee exam.  Again, be sure to enroll for the in-person course at the AYSO U web site as described above - the only way we know how many people are coming to the in-person training is if you enroll.  We have no way of knowing you intend to come to the in-person training if you only take the online training.  If you are unable to enroll for the companion course for some reason, be sure to let the instructor know before the Thursday before the in-person training, because we usually make decisions about whether there are enough to hold the training based on the number enrolled by 5pm on Thursdays.

Taking the online training, the in-person companion course, and passing the exam are all required to receive the AYSO Regional Referee certification.

This type of training has the advantage of flexibility - you take the online training whenever it fits your own schedule.  It also has the advantage that the in-person part of the training takes less time.  On the other hand, there's no one to ask if you have questions during the online training.  You have to save them to bring to the in-person training.