We need youth and adult referees who want to be trained to become certified refs. You can ref just for recreation or get certified for travel and be paid more.

Recreation Referees

13 year old and up can volunteer to ref for a season and earn volunteer hours. Once trained through the club to referee you will be paid $25 a game. If you are a certified US Soccer ref we will pay you $35 and you can practice on the recreation games. Refs should also act as coaches and help the players learn the game and remember the lessons of the week.

Certified Travel Referees

To be a travel referee you must be 14 years or older and become certified by US Soccer.  If you would like to become a Certified Ref and make money ($65-$105 a game) please register with the US Soccer Learning Center.  

Course Summary

First-Time Referees must successfully complete the following assignments in the U.S. Soccer Learning Center: You will then need to recertify annually at a lower fee.

• Online Referee Course Modules – 4.5 hr. 
• First-Time Referee Quiz -  45 mins. 
• Laws of the Game Update – 20 mins.
• Field session administered by the State Referee Committee*
• Background Check (if 18 years or older)*
• SafeSport (if 18 years or older)- 1 hr. 
• Introduction to Safe and Healthy Playing Environments – 1 hr.

* Please contact your State Referee Committee for additional information before completing the background screening in the Learning Center. 

Time to Be Certified

You can become certified in as little as a week. Most of the work is done online before an online meeting and an on field live evaluation. 

Course Dates

The certified referee courses are offered monthly from July to April each year. You must become recertified annually. The best bang for your buck is to be certified in July or August because you wont need to be recertified for another 18 months.  

Fees

Course fee as of 2025 is $193 and you will receive a ref kit, (shirt, shorts, cards, flags). You will also get paid more for the MVSC Rec Games.

How Do I Get Assigned Games

Once you are certified you can enter yourself into a referee pool that will be managed by one assigner. They will assign you a game that you have to accept or deny through software. The more reliable you are, the more games you will be assigned. As you get more experienced and are known to be reliable, you can ask to work with more than one assigenor. 

Where Can I Referee

You can enter yourself in a pool for whatever New York State region you wish to referee. You then have a choice to accept any assignment you wish. For example you would enter yourself to the Hudson Valley referee pool and you can let the assigner know that you want to do all of orange county or just western orange county. They will assign you games and you can accept or decline.

Details

Referee Certification is done by Eastern New York Soccer Referee Association. This qualifies you to be a ref for any US soccer based league or tournament. Namely HVYSL travel games. They have more information about how to become a referee and what to expect when you become one.

Register

You need to log on to US Soccer’s Learning Center and select “Eastern New York State Referee Committee” as the host. They will list available locations and dates. You can also choose to be on the waiting list to be notified of dates starting in July. If enough referees sign the waiting list in our area they will provide a field course at our fields. You will have to complete prerequisites before the course as well as complete an in person evaluation afterwards.