2B | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS
SYSA follows the pro-
gressional guidelines from
US Soccer “by having the
younger kids’ games be
much smaller and more
coach-driven, and not hav-
ing a referee with a whis-
tle,” Tomaro said. “Then,
we have the refereeing start
in that U10 age group, and
developmentally,
they’ve
done a lot of looking at how
it works for kids to learn the
game, have fun and develop.”
Conveniently, the age at
which kids are about ready
to start playing the game
with an official referee pairs
perfectly with the age at
which slightly older kids
are ready to start training as
youth referees, which is cur-
rently 13 years old, as speci-
fied by US Soccer.
“For the referees in U10,
we always tell them this is
a teaching situation, so that
the kids learn the rules,” said
Tomaro.
Up to this point, many
players may not have been
playing with all the same
rules, and they may not
know some of the more
complicated rulings.
“So, [we tell them], ‘When
you make a call, make sure
they know why you have
made the call,’” Tomaro said.
“And sometimes it’s as much
about educating the coach
as it is about educating the
kids; the coaches might mis-
understand something, or
they might just have some-
thing in their head that isn’t
quite right, so they’ve been
teaching their kids to do
something that we’re go-
ing to call them for because
COACH from page 1B
“We’ve got a good mix
of some strong players and
then also some beginning
incoming players. So, I think
it’s going to be a great atmo-
sphere for the older kids to
mentor the younger kids
and kind of rebuild this pro-
gram. They’re a nice group
of kids and they work really
well together,” she added.
This year, the Lady Viks
have Desi Tupua and Ashley
Hennessee returning to play
in the front row, with libero
Hayden Muller and setter
Zoe Alberti holding it down
either it’s dangerous, and
they didn’t realize it, or it’s
an age-group-specific rule
because some age groups
can do certain things others
can’t, like head the ball.”
Luckily, the U10 age group
is a bit easier to referee than
the older groups.
“The kids are generally
just making mistakes be-
cause they’re really excit-
ed,” said Tomaro. “They’re
not fouling on purpose at
that age. So, we usually put
our younger refs, or our
kids who don’t want a more
stressful situation on those
games.”
SYSA also has adult men-
tors on the side of the field
who are certified referees.
“They can give support
and explain things if the ref-
eree needs help,” she said. “I
also like to do that because
there have been some coach-
es who’ve been vocal when
they think a call should be
made, and I think having
an adult standing there is a
good buffer for that; when
you have a 13-year-old, and
there’s an adult saying, ‘This
should be the call,’ even
though the kid is the certi-
fied ref, they start to feel a
little bit either pressured or
unsure.”
Tomaro makes sure that
all of her youth referees have
a great deal of support and
guidance throughout, with
kids being trained as both
assistant and center field refs
over time.
“We mentor the youth,
but we give them a lot of
independence,” she said. “In
the games, when you have a
center ref, they go out and do
their work and the mentor is
watching from the sideline.
They’ll ask questions and
point things out, but you
kind of have to be immersed
in the process and the expe-
rience, and then you learn as
you go.”
That’s part of why US Soc-
cer allows referees as young
as 13.
“We start the kids at the
younger ages, and then we
move them up,” Tomaro
continued. “We first put
them as an assistant ref on
the side so they can get used
to the speed of the game
with older kids and what
they’re going to be looking
for. When they feel com-
fortable, we move them into
the center position. Some
kids are really comfortable
and confident making those
calls and being in that cen-
ter position pretty quickly.”
Throughout the process, the
youth refs gain a great deal
of experience, and they ma-
ture along the way.
“I do think it’s good that
the kids learn leadership,
they learn to trust them-
selves,” said Tomaro. “They
learn a lot of good teamwork,
because they’re working to-
gether to communicate with
each other, the players and
the coaches and show a little
authority.”
There are several youth
referee training programs
offered via the US Soccer
website, but in Florence,
SYSA runs their program
once a year in the fall.
“You sign up on US Soc-
cer for the course you’re reg-
istering for, and you have to
pay attention to the location
because they’re all over the
place,” Tomaro said. “You
do some online modules be-
forehand, and then you have
to do a concussion training
that’s required of all refer-
ees, because it’s not our job
to evaluate whether they’re
cleared to play again, but
if we see symptoms or the
signs of a concussion, we
can send them off the field.
That’s part of the responsi-
bility keeping athletes safe
from head injuries, and the
referee definitely plays a role
there.”
After the trainees have
completed the online mod-
ules and they have their cer-
tificate of concussion train-
ing, they begin the in-person
training, which is a one- or
two-day course.
“There’s a classroom por-
tion where they learn dif-
ferent rules and talk about
different considerations and
situations that might arise
on the field,” said Tomaro.
“Then, they go out on the
field, and they practice the
different movements, how
to hold their arms and hold
the flag. They teach you
a good warm-up and talk
about having your game face
— whatever you do to make
yourself ready to go out and
be an official for the game
and have your official game
aura about you.”
Tomaro does her best to
coordinate trainings to hap-
pen while there is some type
of real recreational game
play going on.
“If possible, we like to do
the trainings when there are
either games going on for a
club or even pick-up games,”
she said. “Something where
they can just see play hap-
pening and be a referee
for the back row, defense
and setting up the team’s of-
fense.
“It’s an outside hitter that
I’m looking to fill,” said
Blake, “and based on the
kids that we had last year
at the varsity level, there’s
nobody really that can shift
into that easily. We’ve had a
couple of swingers from last
year, one of them with a lit-
tle bit of height, Ava Center.
Then, we’ve got a couple of
the incoming freshmen that
have some real height to
them.”
Any of these players could
step into the position.
“I definitely am excited
to get to assess these girls to
see who the best fit is to take
that place,” the coach said.
“There are definitely some
prospects coming up that
I’m excited about.”
The girls had their first
practice on Monday, Aug.
16, and their game schedule
is set for the season.
“We’ve got a multitude of
games up until league starts
Sept. 21,” said Blake. “So
again, getting lots of games
ahead of the actual league
start is going to be really
good for these girls.”
The Lady Vikings start
the season with a Jamboree
at Philomath, where they
will play five other teams on
Thursday, Aug. 26 at 4 pm.
They will then play a tour-
nament in Newport on Sat-
urday, Aug. 28, with more
information coming as the
tournament approaches.
working and watching what’s
happening in the game.
“It’s partially to see how
a referee works a game, and
it’s partially for them to start
looking at the game in a new
way,” she said. “A lot of these
kids have played soccer for
years, so they look at the
game as a player, but you
have to start training your-
self to look at the game as an
official.”
After the course is com-
pleted, youth referees receive
their badges, and they get a
new one each year as proof
of their certification.
“Every year you have to
re-register,” she noted. “At
our level of certification,
you’re not required to do any
continuing education. They
do require us to read and ac-
cept that we’ve read all of the
new rules for every year, be-
cause there are rule changes
happening all the time that
clarify or change things a
bit. You have to know what
those are, and you have to
reup your concussion train-
ing every year.”
For each of SYSA’s sea-
sons, referees have a meeting
and go over the rulebooks
and age-level-specific rules.
Once certified, Tomaro
schedules the youth refer-
ees throughout the SYSA
season. Although programs
were paused for a portion of
the pandemic, Tomaro was
able to bring back the previ-
ously certified youth refs this
past spring.
“We started practices af-
ter spring break, and then
we did five weeks of games
for U8 and six weeks for the
older age groups starting on
April 10,” she said. “So, six
weeks of refereeing games
this past spring. I have a cou-
ple of kids who’ve been wait-
ing [to be certified] because
we got the last group in be-
fore COVID, so we haven’t
done any new certifications
for a couple of years.”
SYSA player registration
closed on Aug. 14, and prac-
tices will start after Labor
Day when school starts. Fol-
lowing about two weeks of
practice, games begin.
“In the next few weeks,
I’ll get in touch with all the
ones who reffed and a cou-
ple who are high schoolers,”
said Tomaro. “Then, for the
kids who are already certi-
fied, we will set a meeting
date, probably in early Sep-
tember, and get everybody
up to speed and refreshed on
everything.”
Tomaro herself is going
to the Lane County Soccer
Referee Association training
day for already certified reps
on Aug. 21.
“I’ll bring back all that in-
formation and make sure the
kids are all up to date, and
I’ll be communicating with
those people who are inter-
ested about whether we’re
going to do a class on the
coast this fall,” she said.
For more information on
joining the youth referee
training program in Flor-
ence, email SYSA at sysa@
siusalwsoccer.com, or send a
message to SYSA Facebook
page at www.facebook.com/
siuslawsoccer.
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