10U Referee Requirement
AYSO requires that all matches be officiated by a certified Referee volunteer or team. All of our Referees are parents just like you who raised their hand and went through the training to become an AYSO referee. Just like any volunteer position within AYSO, all of the required training and mentoring is provided to make your experience an enjoyable and successful one.
All volunteers must go through a common background check and fingerprinting process, as dictated by California law. Many of these steps are one time events and will no longer be needed in later seasons.
The minimum Referee certification required for 10U matches (and higher) is the "Regional Referee" badge. The training for this certification requires about 8 hours of in-class instruction. Alternatively, the trainee may opt to take an online version of the instruction at their own pace and conclude training with a 4 hour on field clinic taught by referee instructors. Trainees who were previously 8U Officials only need about 5-6 hours of training, or can take the online class and clinic.
The training class is published on this website under Referee Calendar
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found here
Requirement Details
All 10U participants are guaranteed a 10 week AYSO fall season, consisting of 3 weeks of practices followed by 7 weeks of practices and regular season Saturday games. Teams that meet the below requirement are further eligible to participate in an end of season tournament.
Tournament Eligibility Requirements
1. Each 10U team is required to provide at least 1 referee, either a returning referee or a new parent volunteer who will be trained as a Regional Referee.
2. Each team's referee or referees must take at least 3 game assignments within the first 5 weeks of the season to meet the basic eligibility requirement.
Point Accumulation for Referee Participation
3. If the team's referee or referees do not take at least 3 more game assignments before the end of the season, they incur a 1 point deduction for Pool Play
4. if the team's referee or referees take 7 or more assignments during the season, they will have points added for pool play, at the rate of 1 point for every 5 additional game assignments, to a maximum of 2 points.
Additional notes
a. Referees are associated with at most one 10U team for the season for the purposes of this requirement
b. Game assignments can be for any 8U, 10U, 12U, 14U or 16/19U game. 8U games only accumulate points if the referee has a Regional Referee badge, and accumulate at 1/2 per game
c. Parents Referees may take on assistant referee assignments for their player's matches during the regular season, but not during the Tournament
d. Red Shirt assignments also count at a rate of 1/2 per game mentored.
Exceptions or waivers to the 10U Referee Rule eligibility must be submitted in writing by the team Coach prior to the 6th week of the season to the Regional Referee Administrator. The exception will be evaluated by a committee of at least 3 of the Tournament Director, 10U Division Coordinator, RRA and ARRA