2023 Advanced Grade 18+ Referee Recertification Requirements
Registration and certification as USSF Soccer Referees for new referees for the 2023 registration year will open on July 25, 2022. Once completed on or after July 25, 2022, the new referee license is valid until December 31, 2023. To recertify for 2024, referees will need to complete certification on or after July 1, 2023. Although recertification for referees in the current registration year can be completed up until mid-June of the current registration year, once the new year starts on January 1, all referees must be certified for that current year to officiate. Recertification requirements for returning referees 18 and older seeking to obtain or renew advanced referee grades.
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1
First complete the Supplemental Google Doc Form. Next, create an Arbiter account and/or complete an Arbiter registration form. You will need a valid credit card and a unique email address that no other person uses. The 2023 registration fee is $120.00 which will be charged to your credit card. Once your registration has been received, NCSRA will send you an initial email confirming receipt and provide further information to complete the certification process. The Arbiter account and/or registration form can be accessed from this link: 2023 NCSRA Referee Registration
2
If you have changed your email or other contact information since your last registration, remember to update your free account in the US Soccer Learning Center. To access the Learning Center to update your account use this link: Access Your Learning Center Account
3
Complete the online USSF Regional Referee Course if you are seeking upgrade to either NC State Referee or Regional Referee. This course is found in Arbiter through your eligibility levels. If you are seeking to retain NC State Referee Grade or Regional Referee Grade (meaning you were registered for 2022 at that grade), you will need to complete the Regional Referee Refresher Course, which is also found through your Arbiter eligibility levels. For a guide to finding your eligibility levels click the link: Guide to Accessing Your Eligibility List.
4
Complete the online Safesport Training Course, accessed through the US Soccer Learning Center under supplemental courses, and email the completion certificate to the NCSRA Office at ncsra@ncsoccer.org. You can access the Safesport Course from this link: Safesport Course
5
Complete the online Safe and Healthy Playing Environments Course, accessed through the US Soccer Learning Center also under supplemental courses. Once completed the Learning Center will add your name to the report listing successful completion from which the NCSRA Office must manually mark your record in this area as complete. This may take several days to process. To speed the process, email the NCSRA office directly at ncsra@ncsoccer.org to let them know to look for your completion information. You can access the Safe and Healthy Playing Environments Course from this link: Safe and Healthy Playing Environments Course
6
Complete the remining requirements listed in the Eligibility level in which you are enrolled. Your eligibility level contains a direct access list to all courses, tests, and other requirements for certification. When a requirement has been met in the list a green check mark will appear to indicate that particular requirement has been met. (Some requirements categorized as “In Person Events” can only be updated by the NCSRA Office. These requirements are used to record receipt of the various completion certificates referenced earlier. When the NCSRA office receives an email of a completion certificate from you, that requirement will be marked as complete. This is a manual process and may take several days to process) There is a guide on how to access and use the eligibility levels on the NCSRA Arbiter Central Hub under the News and Announcements section. The guide can be accessed directly from this link: Guide to Accessing Arbiter Eligibilities
7
Attend the 2023 Advanced Training Seminar via zoom which is being broadcast on July 30, 2022. (If you are unable to attend you will be able to watch the course when it is loaded later into Brainshark and complete the requirement by watching it and passing the content quiz).
8
Complete the required physical fitness test for the grade you seek. (PFTs run after January 1, 2022 may be counted towards this requirement.) The requirements for each grade PFT our posted on the NCSRA website)
9
Complete the required assessments. Assessments conducted on or after January 1, 2022 may be used. For NC State Referee one evaluation on an U15 or above match is needed. This may be done by a mentor, assessor, ref coach, regional assessor or national ref coach. For upgrade to Regional Referee 3 assessments are required. One may be on an U18 or above youth match but at least 2 must be on adult matches. For recertification as a Regional Referee 2 assessments are required. One may be on an U18 or above youth match, but at least one must be on an Adult match. All matches for Regional Referee assessments must be 90 minute matches. For Regional Referee assessments only a ref coach, regional referee assessor, or national referee coach may perform the assessment and each assessment must be done by a different assessor.
10
For referees seeking advanced grade if the PFT or assessment requirements have not been met by January 1, 2023 NCSRA will upload your registration to USSF as a grassroots referee. As soon as you have met the remaining criteria (and so long as they are met before June 30, 2023) we will re-upload your registration to reflect Regional Referee grade. (NC State Referee grade does not need to be reloaded as that grade is an in state grade).
10 Easy Steps
Once these 10 steps are completed you will be eligible to referee USSF soccer games in North Carolina. You will receive an email from our office specifically providing you information regarding referee assignors in your area and other information to help you get started. The office will also mail you an initial registration packet containing your USSF referee badge with Velcro backing, an NCSRA flipping coin, and NCSRA luggage tag for your gear bag, and an NCSRA warm up shirt, along with another instruction sheet with guidance and reference information.
Area Referee Administrator Erick Varone has been specifically tasked with assisting referees through the 2023 registration process. Feel free to contact him if you run into any issues. He can be reached at MichaelsOfficial14@gmail.com.
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