Getting to the next level
Higher age groups, competitive leagues, and where to keep learning.
Moving up
As you gain experience, the games change shape. A U9/U10 game is 7v7 with you alone as center referee (CR). U11/U12 moves to 9v9, sometimes solo and sometimes with a three-person crew — a center referee and two assistant referees (ARs). From U13 up, every 11v11 game runs the full diagonal system with a three-person crew. Working AR before you center a level is normal, not a demotion.
Competitive leagues, including OYSA, assign differently from the recreational leagues most new referees start in: the assignor reviews who’s available and chooses based on experience, position fit, and performance, rather than handing games to whoever asks first. Getting Assignments covers how that works. Moving up mostly means giving an assignor a reason to notice you.
There’s also a formal grade above where you started. OSRO calls your starting grade Grassroots Referee; the next grade up is Regional Referee. Getting there is measured in years, not one good season — the minimum is three consecutive years of registration plus a documented game count before you can even apply.
Regional Referee upgrade requirements
To apply, you need:
- To be at least 18
- A minimum of 3 consecutive years registered as a Grassroots Referee
- 25 games logged as center referee and 15 as AR, on adult amateur games
The upgrade process, once you qualify:
Once you start, the exam, assessments, fitness test, and clinic all have to happen within a 12-month window. This list is undated in the source it comes from, so confirm the current fee and any other specifics with OSRO’s State Director of Assessment before you rely on them.
None of this needs deciding now. Ways to keep learning covers the training that actually prepares you for it, and a mentor who has already made the jump is the fastest way to find out what an assessor is looking for.
Where this comes from
- Frequently Asked Questions — Oregon Soccer Referee Organizationedited locally
- New Referee Starter Packet §5, §7, §12
“Edited locally” means the extracted text was corrected by hand — a changed date or name — rather than re-exported from the original document.
Ways to keep learning
The Laws of the Game don’t change much year to year, but the judgment calls around them — is this a foul, was that a promising attack, did the defender have a real chance at the ball — take longer than one season to get comfortable with. A few places are worth checking back on between games, not just before your course.
U.S. Soccer’s Digital Learning Center is the same account you used to certify, and it stays useful afterward. The resources tab has reference material, and you can message an instructor through the platform any time you have a rules question. U.S. Soccer also publishes a bilingual Laws of the Game video series that walks through the Laws in short clips.
RefTown’s own home page carries training videos alongside the assignor directory and FAQs — worth a scroll the next time you’re on the site setting your availability.
Some assignors also send out short video breakdowns of real plays from their own leagues — a clip of a tackle, a question of whether it was a foul, that kind of thing. It’s a good habit to watch these when they show up in your inbox, even the ones aimed at more experienced referees; the reasoning carries over.
Example clips: foul selection
One assignor’s email shared these as study material for exactly this kind of judgment call. Two terms that come up: SPA (stopping a promising attack) and DOGSO (denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity) — both are reasons a foul can carry a card even when the contact itself looks minor.
Beginner-level:
More advanced:
None of this is required reading. It’s here for whenever you want to get better at the calls that are genuinely hard to make in real time — the same judgment an assessor will be watching for if you go for an upgrade.
Where this comes from
- Frequently Asked Questions — Oregon Soccer Referee Organizationedited locally
- New Referee Starter Packet §8
- Assignor email: Referee video clips on foul selection
“Edited locally” means the extracted text was corrected by hand — a changed date or name — rather than re-exported from the original document.