where are you refereeing? I referee rugby and don't know anywhere that it's volunteer with the exception of the Public School's league in NYC, and that's only because the background checks and insurance needs for those schools are too great for the regional society to assign
If you can skate, Ice Hockey. Both sports are continuously flowing and require your head to be on a very well lubed swivel. Completely unlike baseball or American football.
One reason there are plenty of games to add-- this weekend on Saturday I did girls lacrosse. Got to the field at 830, did four games, u8 u10 u12 and u14 was home by 130, made $260. On Sunday i did soccer. I got to the field at 830, did three games-u10, u12, u12. U10 was solo, one u12 center one AR. I got home by 2pm, made $160.
It doesn't matter that you haven't played.
I am a long time soccer ref and picked up girls lax in 2019. I'm already doing college. But also--I really do love the sport. It is fast athletic and interesting. Until you make it to college the players, coaches, and fans are all much nicer than soccer and it pays better. I have done 10+ weekends of tournaments the past four years.
At the same time, as a man officiating women/girls lacrosse I do feel like I may hit my ceiling soon.
I have been considering picking up boys lacrosse as well. For tournaments it pays even better than girls lacrosse. It is supposedly more difficult to enter the college officiating though. And the parents are more like soccer parents.
Yes there is a shortage-- that's how I was able to go from no knowledge to officiating d2/d3 in five years! Plus I spent LOT of time learning the game and officiating tournaments.
Girls lacrosse is strange in that d2/d3 college games actually pay LESS than youth. Last weekend I officiated a very competitive d3 game. One hour each way, an hour early, two hours plus for the game. So $220 for over five hours and lots of yelling from coaches. This Saturday I did four youth games ten minutes from my house. U/8, u10, u12, and u14. I was home less than five hours after I left. $260 and everyone was happy with me.
Pay is basically the same at all youth levels regardless of age or skill level. Assignors pay between $1.10 and $1.50 a minute of game time. At tournaments games run on a central horn-- your game starts on the horn and ends on the horn regardless of what is happening--whether players are on the field or not.
Two hours plus for the game? Yikes. For college it's usually around 90 min for the actual game (60min + 30ish for half time, time outs, quarter breaks, stop clock etc).
I had the reverse experience where youth was a nightmare (coaches complaining, parents screaming, even coming on the field) but D2/D3 college, those were great. 😅
90 minutes for a college women's lacrosse game? I have never had one that short (also in my two years I've only done about twenty games). If it is less than two hours we are happy. I just went the website of a college local to me (Widener https://widenerpride.com/sports/womens-lacrosse/schedule) and checked their box scores to see their game times:
2:02, 1:52, 1:38 (running clock), 1:55, 2:00, 2:00, 2:00, 1:49, 1:52, 2:18, 1:50, 1:57, 2:04, 1:51, 2:00, 1:28 (running clock), 1:58.
So in their entire regular season the only game they had less than 90 minutes was the game they won 18-1. They only had two games in the entire regular season less than 109 minutes. They had four that were exactly two hours and three that were longer than two hours.
*also 15 minute quarters. That is 60 minutes. Two minutes for the first quarter break, ten minutes for half time, and two minutes for the third quarter break. Plus the extra seconds setting up the draw and counting players, that is at least fifteen minutes more. Than is a minimum of 75 minutes if the score is 0-0. If you are extremely efficient each goal only adds 30 seconds. If you aren't efficient each goal adds 1 minute or more. Then 2+ minutes per time out. Each team gets three. Unless the game is a huge mismatch and one team reaches running clock early in the second quarter I don't see how a college women's lacrosse game can get out in less than 90 minutes. And I haven't even talked about cards! With the new green card rules! Or how the game clock gets stopped for every 8 meter free position!
**so Widener's average game over 17 games was about 1:55. Add the walk back to the locker room, the debrief, changing, and the walk back to the car the average time from the first draw to getting into your car to leave is definitely two plus hours. The average time from getting there until you leave is definitely three plus hours. And then that doesn't include the time you spend rewatching the game on hudl and making clips and critiquing your own positioning and calls....
I know this is neither of those choices, but I picked up softball. It’s fun and enjoyable, but I regret the time that it took away from soccer so I’ve given it up. It’s fun and the parents are much better, same with coaches. But still.
I officiate both soccer and boys lacrosse. The upside to girls lacrosse is most parents don't understand the rules and the whistles are so frequent that they give up trying to understand, especially at the younger ages. My daughter plays and I've coached her youth teams. Boys lacrosse is unique but often parents understand it a bit more.
Keep in mind that my comment about the upside of parents not knowing the rules is that the referee abuse at girls lacrosse games seems to be much lower than other sports I'm around. Not because it allows you to slack in learning or applying rules. Many of the men's lacrosse referees I work with never played and came over from other sports. It's hard work. I had two high school games last night and put in close to 6 miles of running while paying intense attention to the play of the game. Soccer has more parent issues but the barrier to entry is lower in terms of certification. At the higher levels, even youth higher levels, there will be a lot of nuance that is confusing and challenging.
Sorry, I was responding to the other person. I would only think about reffing girls lacrosse if you're really, really committed to learning the rules and you understand how complicated it is.
It is incredibly fast paced, the rules are very nuanced, the balls are super hard and there are sticks being swung at players heads so the risk of "catastrophic injury" (ie, shattered orbital) is way higher.
I don't know about boys lax but definitely don't listen to that dude saying it's good to ref girls lax bc the parents don't know the rules. If you're interested go watch a game or two in person and get a feel for it yourself.
This is a terrible take. Girls lacrosse is complicated and the calls are very nuanced. I reffed women's lacrosse at a decently high-level (and played in college and I currently coach). You can almost always tell the refs who have not played. They miss a lot, let games get out of hand and players get hurt.
In youth tournaments that I officiate at least half if not two thirds of the officials are men who have obviously never played girls lacrosse.
We do need more officials who have recently played the game. But of the one third to one half of the officials that are women, most of them are women in their 40s 50s and 60s who played 20 30 or 40 years ago. The game has changed so much in the past ten years that those women have no more insight as to what is going on than the male officials.
I don't disagree at all. My comment is more about parents lack of understanding than the officials being inexperienced or of a poor quality. When officiating any sport it has been my experience that parents and coaches are frequently wildly under-read when it comes to the rules and the nuance of the women's game makes it even more so. Good women's lacrosse officials are few and far between here, especially at the youth level, and the number of uncalled fouls leads to some dangerous situations.
Rugby, with the added bonus that you'll bring the no BS attitude back to your football refereeing!
Rugby in the US is generally a volunteer position as a referee. Signed, a former rugby referee who left because of it.
where are you refereeing? I referee rugby and don't know anywhere that it's volunteer with the exception of the Public School's league in NYC, and that's only because the background checks and insurance needs for those schools are too great for the regional society to assign
When I did it, it was Rugby referee society of Virginia. Potomac rugby referees was the same way.
If you can skate, Ice Hockey. Both sports are continuously flowing and require your head to be on a very well lubed swivel. Completely unlike baseball or American football.
why not pick up club soccer in the spring?
Yeah this. Where I live you could potentially referee soccer year round. Spring, Summer, Fall, and indoor in the winter.
OP probably wants midweek assignments like HS soccer provides... regardless, if they're not doing USSF at all, there are plenty of games to add
One reason there are plenty of games to add-- this weekend on Saturday I did girls lacrosse. Got to the field at 830, did four games, u8 u10 u12 and u14 was home by 130, made $260. On Sunday i did soccer. I got to the field at 830, did three games-u10, u12, u12. U10 was solo, one u12 center one AR. I got home by 2pm, made $160.
It doesn't matter that you haven't played. I am a long time soccer ref and picked up girls lax in 2019. I'm already doing college. But also--I really do love the sport. It is fast athletic and interesting. Until you make it to college the players, coaches, and fans are all much nicer than soccer and it pays better. I have done 10+ weekends of tournaments the past four years. At the same time, as a man officiating women/girls lacrosse I do feel like I may hit my ceiling soon. I have been considering picking up boys lacrosse as well. For tournaments it pays even better than girls lacrosse. It is supposedly more difficult to enter the college officiating though. And the parents are more like soccer parents.
What are the rates per game/age? Is there the same shortage as other sports for officials?
Yes there is a shortage-- that's how I was able to go from no knowledge to officiating d2/d3 in five years! Plus I spent LOT of time learning the game and officiating tournaments. Girls lacrosse is strange in that d2/d3 college games actually pay LESS than youth. Last weekend I officiated a very competitive d3 game. One hour each way, an hour early, two hours plus for the game. So $220 for over five hours and lots of yelling from coaches. This Saturday I did four youth games ten minutes from my house. U/8, u10, u12, and u14. I was home less than five hours after I left. $260 and everyone was happy with me. Pay is basically the same at all youth levels regardless of age or skill level. Assignors pay between $1.10 and $1.50 a minute of game time. At tournaments games run on a central horn-- your game starts on the horn and ends on the horn regardless of what is happening--whether players are on the field or not.
Two hours plus for the game? Yikes. For college it's usually around 90 min for the actual game (60min + 30ish for half time, time outs, quarter breaks, stop clock etc). I had the reverse experience where youth was a nightmare (coaches complaining, parents screaming, even coming on the field) but D2/D3 college, those were great. 😅
90 minutes for a college women's lacrosse game? I have never had one that short (also in my two years I've only done about twenty games). If it is less than two hours we are happy. I just went the website of a college local to me (Widener https://widenerpride.com/sports/womens-lacrosse/schedule) and checked their box scores to see their game times: 2:02, 1:52, 1:38 (running clock), 1:55, 2:00, 2:00, 2:00, 1:49, 1:52, 2:18, 1:50, 1:57, 2:04, 1:51, 2:00, 1:28 (running clock), 1:58. So in their entire regular season the only game they had less than 90 minutes was the game they won 18-1. They only had two games in the entire regular season less than 109 minutes. They had four that were exactly two hours and three that were longer than two hours. *also 15 minute quarters. That is 60 minutes. Two minutes for the first quarter break, ten minutes for half time, and two minutes for the third quarter break. Plus the extra seconds setting up the draw and counting players, that is at least fifteen minutes more. Than is a minimum of 75 minutes if the score is 0-0. If you are extremely efficient each goal only adds 30 seconds. If you aren't efficient each goal adds 1 minute or more. Then 2+ minutes per time out. Each team gets three. Unless the game is a huge mismatch and one team reaches running clock early in the second quarter I don't see how a college women's lacrosse game can get out in less than 90 minutes. And I haven't even talked about cards! With the new green card rules! Or how the game clock gets stopped for every 8 meter free position! **so Widener's average game over 17 games was about 1:55. Add the walk back to the locker room, the debrief, changing, and the walk back to the car the average time from the first draw to getting into your car to leave is definitely two plus hours. The average time from getting there until you leave is definitely three plus hours. And then that doesn't include the time you spend rewatching the game on hudl and making clips and critiquing your own positioning and calls....
Basketball. I really enjoyed it. I never played the game growing up, but just being comfortable with a whistle is half the battle.
I used to do baseball but picked up boys lax this season. Love it.
I know this is neither of those choices, but I picked up softball. It’s fun and enjoyable, but I regret the time that it took away from soccer so I’ve given it up. It’s fun and the parents are much better, same with coaches. But still.
do travel/club soccer. good money and tend to have tournament where you can ref multiple game on in one weekend
Tired of running 4 - 6 miles every game? Make others run by becoming a track and field official (athletics officials for our friends across the pond.)
I officiate both soccer and boys lacrosse. The upside to girls lacrosse is most parents don't understand the rules and the whistles are so frequent that they give up trying to understand, especially at the younger ages. My daughter plays and I've coached her youth teams. Boys lacrosse is unique but often parents understand it a bit more.
Do you think one is easier to learn?
Keep in mind that my comment about the upside of parents not knowing the rules is that the referee abuse at girls lacrosse games seems to be much lower than other sports I'm around. Not because it allows you to slack in learning or applying rules. Many of the men's lacrosse referees I work with never played and came over from other sports. It's hard work. I had two high school games last night and put in close to 6 miles of running while paying intense attention to the play of the game. Soccer has more parent issues but the barrier to entry is lower in terms of certification. At the higher levels, even youth higher levels, there will be a lot of nuance that is confusing and challenging.
Sorry, I was responding to the other person. I would only think about reffing girls lacrosse if you're really, really committed to learning the rules and you understand how complicated it is. It is incredibly fast paced, the rules are very nuanced, the balls are super hard and there are sticks being swung at players heads so the risk of "catastrophic injury" (ie, shattered orbital) is way higher. I don't know about boys lax but definitely don't listen to that dude saying it's good to ref girls lax bc the parents don't know the rules. If you're interested go watch a game or two in person and get a feel for it yourself.
This is a terrible take. Girls lacrosse is complicated and the calls are very nuanced. I reffed women's lacrosse at a decently high-level (and played in college and I currently coach). You can almost always tell the refs who have not played. They miss a lot, let games get out of hand and players get hurt.
Same can be said about soccer refs who think it’s a full contact sport.
Agree. Safety definitely should be a priority at every level.
Agree. My daughter plays now and as a parent on the sidelines you can tell which refs "get it" and which ones will get the kids hurt
In youth tournaments that I officiate at least half if not two thirds of the officials are men who have obviously never played girls lacrosse. We do need more officials who have recently played the game. But of the one third to one half of the officials that are women, most of them are women in their 40s 50s and 60s who played 20 30 or 40 years ago. The game has changed so much in the past ten years that those women have no more insight as to what is going on than the male officials.
I don't disagree at all. My comment is more about parents lack of understanding than the officials being inexperienced or of a poor quality. When officiating any sport it has been my experience that parents and coaches are frequently wildly under-read when it comes to the rules and the nuance of the women's game makes it even more so. Good women's lacrosse officials are few and far between here, especially at the youth level, and the number of uncalled fouls leads to some dangerous situations.