This past summer several Minnesota referees had the good fortune to be selected to officiate professional and amateur matches at the national level. Sia Rahimi worked extensively for the U.S.I.S.L. around the Midwest, Steve Olson has been the referee in several MLS matches, and Bob Petersen and myself represented Minnesota at the Youth National Championships in Indianapolis. In addition, other Minnesota referees such as Todd Abraham, Mishaun Ahmad, Brian Gryniewski, and Ken Lamb have worked as top level referees right here at home as officials for the Minnesota Thunder. Hopefully some of you out there know these referees and have the goal of one day reaching the point where you can officiate these top level games. I would like to take a moment to give you a few pointers about what you need to do to achieve the goal of being a professional soccer referee.
Proper fitness is an absolute key to maintaining control of matches at the highest level.
You should be keeping in shape so that you can referee not refereeing so you can keep in shape. Page 15 of the USSF Referee Administrative Handbook lists the minimum fitness requirements of International and National referees. If you cannot even pass the National Referee fitness test you are certainly not fit enough to referee top level games where match fitness goes well beyond these minimum requirements. Too many referees out there think that they should be State Referees right out of the gates, but it takes many years and hundreds of games before a referee has enough experience to do an adequate job at the professional level. For example, I spent five years and refereed over 400 games before I even upgraded to Grade 7, and I had over 100 centers at the adult level before I took a crack at the Minnesota Thunder.