The registration of soccer officials in Tennessee is managed by The Soccer Officials of Tennessee (SOTN). Information about some of SOTN's policies/procedures can be accessed by clicking the following links.
New Referees
Referee grades managed in Tennessee
Referee registration
Referee recertification
Referee upgrade
AYSO to USSF cross-certification in Tennessee
Registration fees charged in Tennessee
TSSA State League Fees
Referee uniforms
To become a new referee, you need to take an entry-level referee class. In Tennessee, two types of entry-level classes are offered. One certifies you as a grade-8 referee and the other certifies you as a grade-9 referee.
For the most part, grade-8 referees manage and conduct youth-level matches at a competitive level (Divisions 1, 2, and 3 . . . including 'select' matches). The grade-8 entry-level class takes about 15 hours.
Grade-9 referees (sometimes referred to as 'recreational' referees) are trained to manage and conduct U14-and-younger matches within recreational leagues. The grade-9 entry-level class is about 8 hours; this class is not offered everywhere in Tennessee.
Grade-8 referees can referee recreational games, but grade-9 referees are not supposed to referee competitive games. For every grade-9 referee in Tennessee there are about a dozen grade-8 referees.
To register for an entry-level class, click Approved Classes (top menu bar) and follow the online instructions.
For detailed instructions, click here.
If you need assistance, please contact Peggy Gruzalski.
CERTIFICATION
Items listed are applicable to Tennessee certification's.
Max Class Fee |
Registration Fee |
Max Total Fee |
|
Referee Entry Level (9) | $30 | $35 | $65 |
Referee Entry Level (8) | $40 | $48 | $88 |
Referee Bridge (9 → 8) | $30 | $48 | $78 |
Referee Recertification (9) | $20 | $35 | $55 |
Referee Recertification (8) | $20 | $48 | $68 |
Assignor Entry Level (8) | $30 | $35 | $65 |
Assignor Recertification (8) | $20 | $35 | $55 |
To request a presentation kit, please click here.
To order books and badges, please send an email to Peggy Gruzalski. To find out which books need to be handed out at class, please see 'Which books do I need to handout in class' (below).
Note that this webpage is for registered instructors or those entering data on behalf of a registered instructor. It is not for those who would like to take a class or those who would like to see a class offered at a particular time or place.
Please select one of the following:
How to accept or reject a teaching assignment
How to manage a class roster online
Once a class is approved, it will show up under 'Approved Classes' (top menu) and students will be able to sign up for it. If it is an entry-level class, each student will be asked to create an account on SOTN.GameOfficials; if it is a recertification class, each student will need to know his or her username and password. After the cutoff time (an hour or two before the class begins), students will also need the walk-up code to sign up for a class. Instructors assigned to teach the class and who have accepted the assignment may find the walk-up code on the online roster. How to find an online roster is described in the next few paragraphs.
To see a list of your classes, log on to SOTN.GameOfficials.net, set your identity to 'Instructor', and click My Classes (left menu). The page that appears will show a list of your classes. Note that, near the top of the page, there is a small two-row table. In the top-right cell of the table there are two links:
Not Accepted
All (May Load Slowly)
What appears on the webpage depends upon which of these links has been last clicked. If Not Accepted is chosen, the classes shown will be those for which you have not yet accepted the teaching assignment. If All is chosen, all of your classes will be listed (which is why the wording 'may load slowly' appears). Feel free to click back and forth between these two links to see how the content of the webpage ia affected.
To see the roster for a particular class: First find that class in the list and then click the green link labeled Manage. Note that the roster shows how much money each person has paid for the class. If the green link labeled Manage doesn't appear, no one has signed up for the class yet.
To obtain a printable copy of the roster, click on the green link labeled Printable Roster. Note that doing this produces another webpage that really contains two copies of the roster. The two copies each contain different information.
To manage a class roster: After you have clicked the green link labeled Manage, click Batch Edit near the bottom of the page. From there, you may
To close a class: Click Manage and then click Close Class. You may re-open a class whenever you wish. Therefore, please don’t delay closing a class because a few people haven't met some requirement. Instead, close the class (indicating who met the requirements) so that those people can get their certification recorded. If, at a later time, an attendee meets a hitherto unmet requirement (say, he/she passes the exam), simply reopen the class, make the appropriate modifications to the roster, and then close the class again.
For both entry-level classes and recertification classes, you should provide only the FIFA Laws of the Game (or the Laws Made Easy).
The Instructor Report, an Excel file designed to help instructors deal with the finances involved in wrapping up a class, can be found by clicking here.
. . . can be found here. In what follows, I refer to this a 'the pdf list.'
I realize that the official TSSA districts are only approximated by the pdf list. Because TSSA assigns each county to one district, some cities map into more than one district. For simplicity, however, I choose to ignore this annoying complication. And so, if you ever need to know in which district a particular referee resides (for referee-registration purposes), please feel free to use the pdf list.
If you notice errors or emissions in the pdf list, please bring them to my attention.
Thanks.
Greg Gruzalski
Failing the refresher exam
If a referee fails the refresher exam, SOTN requires that he/she wait 30 days before retaking it.
Failing a maintenance assessment
If a referee fails a maintenance assessment, SOTN requires no waiting period to retake.
Failing to officiate at the Boys D-1 State Championship
Grade-5 or grade-6 referees who fail to officiate at the Boys D-1 State Championship will be downgraded at least one grade for the remainder of the year.
Failing the physical fitness test
If a referee fails the physical fitness test, SOTN requires no waiting period to retake.
Recertification after not being certified for one or more years
Grade-8 referees who miss 1-2 consecutive years of registration can be reregistered as a grade 8 after completing a referee recertification clinic.
Grade-8 referees who miss 3-4 consecutive years of registration can be reregistered after taking the Bridge class or the entire grade-8 entry-level class.
Grade-8 referees who miss 5 or more consecutive years must retake the entire grade-8 entry-level class.
Grade-7 referees and higher who have missed one or more consecutive years will be downgraded a minimum of one grade. Once they have taken the appropriate class as listed above for grade-8 referees and have completed all requirements for their previously held grade, they may be reinstated.
Grade-9 referees who miss one or two years of registration may be reregistered after fulfilling all requirements for that grade. A grade-9 referee who misses two years of registration can be eligible to take the Bridge class after he or she has met the requirements to be recertified as grade 9.
Standard Fees Charged for Certification in TN | ||
Type | USSF Fees | Max USSF plus Course Fee |
Referee Entry Level (9) | $35 | $65 |
Referee Entry Level (8) | $48 | $88 |
Referee Bridge (9 → 8) | $48 | $78 |
Assignor Entry Level (8) | $30 |
$60 |
Referee Recertification (9) |
$35 |
$55 |
Referee Recertification (8) | $48 |
$68 |
Assignor Recertification (8) | $30 |
$50 |
Division I State League | ||
Age | Referee | Assistant Referee |
U17 — U19 | $65 | $55 |
U15 — U16 | $60 | $50 |
U13 — U14 | $55 | $45 |
U12 | $50 | $40 |
Assigning fee is $10 per match |
Division II State League | ||
Age | Referee | Assistant Referee |
U17 — U19 | $55 | $45 |
U15 — U16 | $50 | $40 |
U13 — U14 | $45 | $35 |
U12 | $40 | $30 |
Assigning fee is $10 per match |
Division III State League | ||
Age | Referee | Assistant Referee |
U17 — U19 | $45 | $35 |
U15 — U16 | $40 | $30 |
U13 — U14 | $35 | $25 |
Assigning fee is $10 per match |
Premier League | ||
Age | Referee | Assistant Referee |
U17 — U19 | $60 | $40 |
U15 — U16 | $50 | $30 |
U13 — U14 | $40 | $25 |
Assigning fee is $10 per match |
TSL Juniors |
||
Age |
Referee |
Assistant Referee |
U11 — U12 |
$34 |
$18 |
U09 — U10 |
$28 |
$18 |
U09 — U10 |
$28 |
One Man System |
Assigning fee is $10 per match |
From the 2009-2010 Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game:
5.1 REFEREE UNIFORM
Referees may wear only the gold primary jersey or the black, blue, red, or green alternate jerseys, and may wear only the approved socks. (The term "primary jersey" means only that this is the color all referees must have. It does not mean that the gold jersey must be worn in preference to other colors.) No other colors will be worn without express permission of the USSF. If the uniform colors worn by a goalkeeper and the referee or by a team (or both teams) and the referee are similar enough to invite confusion, the goalkeeper or the team(s) must change to different colors. Only if there is no way to resolve the color similarity must the referee (and the assistant referees) wear the colors that conflict least with the players. Referees and assistant referees must wear the same color jerseys and the same style of socks, and all should wear the same length sleeves. The referee uniform does not include a hat, cap, or other head covering, with the sole exception of required religious head covering. Referees must wear the badge of the current registration year.
Referees should select their shoes with an eye for both utility and appearance. Referees have to run on the field with at least as much speed and agility as do the players, so the shoes should enable them to do this under all field conditions. Players, team officials, and spectators often make initial judgments about the skills and knowledge of the referee based on appearance, and shoes can contribute significantly toward building that reserve of confidence. It is also occasionally important that players, who are frequently looking down at the ground, be able to identify the referee quickly by differences in the shoes. Accordingly, the referee's shoes should be predominantly black, clean, polished, and neatly tied.
Under normal circumstances, it is not acceptable for a game official to wear headgear, and it would never be seen on a high-level regional, national or international competition. However, there may be rare circumstances in local competitions where head protection or sun visors might sensibly be tolerated for the good of the game, e. g., early morning or late afternoon games with sun in the officials' line of sight causing vision difficulties; understaffed situations where an official with sensitive skin might be pressed into service for multiple games under strong sunlight, or a referee who wears glasses needing shielding from rain. Sunglasses would be subject to the same considerations. In addition, we ask referees to remember that sunglasses have the unfortunate side effect of suggesting that the referee or assistant referee is severely visually impaired and should not be working the game. They also limit communication between the officials and the players by providing a barrier against eye-to-eye contact. Sunglasses, if worn, should be removed prior to any verbal communication with players.
Points of Emphases for Tennessee Referees:
Many of you like to travel to out of state events. You are encouraged to do this as it makes us all better officials when we are exposed to different environments.
Please note the following TN requirements;
As a common courtesy, assignors generally ask referees to provide this letter of good standing and that a background check has been performed, be proactive and have it in your possession before you are asked for it.
Please provide the SRA with advanced notice, especially when the requested travel dates are near a Holiday. Remember, the SRA is a volunteer, request within a week of the event may not be approved.
Failure to notify the SRA of impending or actual officiating out of State could result in the referee placed in "Bad Standing" and could jeopardize the referee's certification.
Referees may print a copy of their USSF ID Card by following these instructions:
Go to the https://ussoccer.secure.force.com/referee/
If you do not have a login/password
If you have a login