The State Referee Committee (SRC) oversees the administration of Recognized Referee Programs, as delegated, within the State of Washington including the training, development, instruction, assignment, mentoring, and assessment of referees and officials for all forms of soccer related competition within the State of Washington.

Washington State 2023 Youth Referees of the Year

Ingrid and Sam, congratulations on being selected the Washington State 2023 Youth Referees of the Year.

Ingrid’s love for soccer began at just the age of 5. She started playing rec soccer and moved up to the NPSL, RCL, ECNL levels. She also played for her High School JV and Varsity teams. After playing soccer at various levels, she decided to take her love for soccer one step further and enrolled in a referee course. Ingrid uses her role as a soccer referee to be able to build relationships with people of all different ages, cultures, and backgrounds. Ingrid hopes that she can spread her love for soccer to others and influence them to love the sport just as much as she does.

Even though confidence is important, her biggest takeaway from being a referee this last year is humility. Humility is what allows you to learn, reflect and become a strong leader. Refereeing has also taught Ingrid the importance of hard work and perseverance not only in soccer, but in her daily life. While Ingrid had 2 concussions during the soccer season and could not play or referee, she took it upon herself to mentor new referees in the area and help answer their questions.

After getting her USSF license, it did not take Ingrid long to get WOA certified so Ingrid could officiate middle school and high school games. In the last year Ingrid has upgraded and is now grassroots advanced certified. Ingrid also participates in state cups and has recently become a part of the Seattle Referees Development Program.

Sam’s passion for soccer kicked off when he began playing micro U6 soccer with Snoqualmie Valley Youth Soccer. He joined Cascade FC at the age of 10 and has played there ever since, where he is currently the captain of his team. Sam has also played for his High School’s JV and Varsity teams.

Sam extended his love for soccer by becoming a referee 6 years ago. Sam began his referee career by covering U9 and U10 games. He has since gained more confidence and covers all levels of games for EKCSRA. Sam is known in the area for picking up games that do not get coverage, even if that means he must cover a game shortly after playing in his own game. Young referees in the area look up to Sam and want to learn from him.

The Snoqualmie Valley association considers Sam a rare gift to their soccer community and to Washington State’s soccer community. Sam volunteers at recreational and premier soccer tournaments, where he builds new goals, lines fields, covers games and assists the youth program. Sam is always promoting youth outreach with his MSHS soccer team by attending youth camps. Sam promotes hard work, growth, respect for the game of soccer, and overall kindness.

Announcing WYS Rule Modifications for 2023-2024

2024 Referee and Referee Advanced Recertification Online Clinics Are Now Available

Amateur Sports Officials Assault Protection Bill

On Dec 30, 2022, the Washington State House of Representatives has added to their docket for the upcoming “2023 Regular Session” a bill requesting to add amateur sports officials to the assault protection that many other public serving professions already receive. Should this bill pass, Washington State will be only the 23rd state in the U.S. with any type of codified protection for amateur sports officials.

By adding amateur sports officials to the existing protected groups within RCW 9A.36.031, it would make assaults against amateur sports officials a class C felony. This protection is already afforded to bus drivers, police officers, health care workers, firefighters, judges, court workers.

The passage of this bill would continue to send a message to all that Washington State values the protection of amateur sports officials. The crisis we face with unsporting behavior across our state, and country, continues to drive officials away from our avocation, and without officials there would be no games.

Please spread the word about this bill. Ask everyone to contact their State Representatives and request that they sign onto this bill. Let’s get HB 1096-2023-24 passed. The more our legislators know how much this means to officials, the more likely we will be to ensure it gets made into law.

Find your State Representative: https://leg.wa.gov/house/Pages/default.aspx

Direct link to HB-1096-2023-24 information: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1096&Initiative=false&Year=2023

Direct Link to HB-1096-2023-24: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1096.pdf?q=20221230104402

RCW 9A.36.031: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9a.36.031

Managing Referee Abuse & Assault

Soccer referee abuse and assault are very serious crimes against the sport and they continue to happen to our members. Misconduct against referees may occur before, during, and after a match — including travel to and from a match. It is critical that referees correctly identify and make a report of these incidents. Your SRC has developed two pages to assist you in recognizing and dealing with Referee Abuse and Assault. The first page provides information on recognizing abuse and assualt and how and when to report it. It may be viewed on the page Refereee Abuse & Assault. Guidance for how you should conduct yourself when you experience Abuse or Assault is provided on this Supplemental page. A link is also provided in the sidebar and the right of this page.

It is requested and recommended that all recertifying and new referees complete the new lesson providing online instruction on recognizing and dealing with Referee Abuse and Assault.

If you have not already completed it, the lesson may be taken by clicking Here.

Concussion Protocol Player Development Initiatives
For Washington Youth Soccer

Washington Youth Soccer has instituted the US Soccer Concussion Protocol and Player Development Initiatives Rules of Competition for all Youth Small Sided Games (SSG-U6-U12) with modifications. These initiatives are effective immediately. To assist in the education of Washington State Referees, an online course has been created. This course has been included in the Annual Recertification lessons. However, some referees have already recertified for 2017-2018 and we encourage you to take the online course at the following link: Small Sided Games (WA)."

NOTE: These changes apply to all US Youth Soccer and US Club Soccer Small Sided Games with the following exceptions: US Club Soccer games for U11 do NOT use the Build Out Line for Offside. Offside for US Club Soccer games for both U11 and U12 are in effect from the Halfway Line.

Referees are encouraged to work with coaches before each game to determine everyone's understanding of the new rules for Small Sided Games (U6 - U12).