Wellesley United

Referee In Training Program

Wellesley United will be hostng a referee-in-training clinic in February at the Wellesley Community Center. If you are interested in being an in-town referee or are newly qualified referee for the Spring season then you will need to attend this clinic. The referee clinic will introduce you to the rules of soccer and set out the expectations for the season. Newly Qualified Massachusetts state referees will also need to attend this clinic. 

Referee Certification

To become an "official" referee you must take a course offered by the MSRC (Massachusetts State Referee Committee).  The course which most youth take is called a Grade 8 license (which has nothing to do with your grade in school).   This is a one day course.  These courses are not held in Wellesley, but several are in surrounding towns.  You can find a list of courses/dates by going to the MSRC web site (www.massref.net).  Grade 8 referees are licensed to referee 6v6 and 8v8 games as well as be Assistant Referees for 11v11 games.  This Grade 8 license serves most high school referees very well. If you take this course and become a certified referee, the Wellesley United Soccer Club will reimburse you for the course cost.

Moving Up to 11v11 Games

To be assigned to referee the 11v11 games you must take the Grade 8 course offered by the MSRC.  This course requires 16 hours of classroom time which is broken down into several days. Our experience is that older referees - 12th graders or adults - have the skill and confidence needed to referee these older players.   If you have your grade 9 license you could sign up for the 'Bridge' course which only requires 8 hours of classroom time.  Again, just visit the MSRC web site (www.massref.net) to sign up for the training courses and then let us know as soon as you're available to referee!

Questions?  Contact our Referee Coordinator and Field Scheduler Chris Howard