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Thank you to all of our Team Managers for doing such a great job for your teams, coaches and the Club this season!

*** 2012 REFEREE CLASSES ***

Below is the information for upcoming recertification and certification courses for referees. 

Please begin the process by initially registering @ www.ussoccer.info.

The link for registering for the individual classes is not active at this time.  We will notify the club when registration is open. Dates are announced but time and location is not yet available. 

Recertification and Certification Courses

 USSF fees are $40 and BASRA dues are $20 for all referees.

 

 

 

All referees must register online at www.montanaref.org before the session by selecting Billings under the Clinics/Events tab, selecting the proper course & date, and filling in the information.

  
     

Certification Sessions

  

Dates Provided

  
       

Grade 8 Recertification (must also register online before the session at www.ussoccer.info)

  

February 21th and March 13th

  
       

Grade 8 Certification (16 hours over 2 days)

  

February 25th-26th and March 17th- 18th

  
       

Grade 9 Certification (8 hours in one day)

  

February 25th and March 17th

  
       

*Grade 9 to Grade 8 Bridge Cert. (8 hours in one day)

  

February 25th and March 17th

  
       

*All current grade 9’s will be required to upgrade to grade 8 through the bridge session!!!

 


Make Yourself 'Available' in Gotsport
The schedules for the spring club season have been posted on gotsoccer. That means that all teams should now know their travel schedules for the season. Please review your individual schedules and update your gotsoccer account with the most accurate availability that you can. The preliminary look is that we are going to be very short of referees the first week (April 2, 2011). Your help in showing yourself as available whenever possible would be greatly appreciated.

When updating your gotsoccer accounts, you must “register” for the various leagues that you want to work in. In Billings this year, we have three leagues and one tournament:
2011 MYSA Premiere U14-U19
2011 MYSA Select U13-U19
2011 MYSA Classic U10-U12
2011 Stockman Bank Magic City Classic 



How to Log Into Gotsport, Get Assignments, Register With Various Leagues

The link below will take you to a page that contains all How-To videos for referees to log into gotsport, get assignments, register for the various leagues, etc. You MUST be registered with Gotsport and Montanaref and each site MUST have your current e-mail! Here is the link:

ftp.montanaref.org/gotsportreferee/Gotsportforreferee.html

IF YOU ARE NO LONGER A REFEREE OR WISH TO BE REMOVED FROM THE MAILING LIST, YOU MUST DO SO YOURSELF BY REMOVING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.

The spring league is about to start. All referees should be registered in BOTH www.montanaref.org and www.gotsport.com. You will be receiving e-mails from both sites to capture anyone who is not listed in both. You should update your personal information, especially e-mail and cell phone numbers. If you have duplicate accounts, you should remove one of them. If you have trouble with Gotsport because you changed e-mails, let me know and I can assist you.
 
You can not be activated in the Gotsport system for assigning until your instructor has verified that you took a re-certification or entry level clinic AND that USSF has received your payment and registration. It is strongly encouraged that if you are associated with a team as a refereee, i.e., you are the coach or a parent/sibling, at least one referee per team traveling to a host site volunteer to work at that site. You will need to contact the host site assignor. How to do this is explained in the series of how-to videos at the link above.

The leagues (premier, select and classic) as well as the post-season tournaments are all listed on Gotsport and you will need to sign up for each one that you want to work. The NCS Cup is the regional qualifying tournament and those who register for that will be considered and selected by the same selection committee process that was used last year. 

Florian M. Cortese
SYRA Montana
406-490-0007 Cell
406-723-1300 Work
406-723-1310 Fax


If you do not have a referee account, you will need to create one. Here is a document which provides the steps to get that done. Download Referee Signup Directions here.

For both certification and recertification, you must register online at www.ussoccer.info (bring copy of your receipt) and www.montanaref.org. Here is the link to start the process: 
http://www.montanaref.org/Area/AreaEvents.asp?s_area=6
 
Please bring your receipt from the registration process and $20 for the BASRA fee.

If you have any questions regarding certification and recertification, please contact Mike Mayott at mmayott@imt.net.
REFEREE FAQ'S


Register for referee classes held this spring at Montana Ref (www.montanaref.org). Below is a link to the registration page. Everyone will need to register online at Montana Ref. If one does not have an account, they will need to create one. Recertification is required every year, regardless of certification level. Attached is a document which provides the step to get that done. 

In order to facilitate the process, you will need to register for the class on www.montanaref.org, as well as www.ussoccer.info (you will need your ID and password sent with your certification card), ideally before the class session. Do not be surprised if there are complications with this and certainly do not fret. Any issues can be resolved before the start of the season.
 
Any questions, call Mike Mayott at 690-7012.


Referee FAQ'S by Doug Clapper
- What should I expect at the 2-day ref certification?
The course covers the 17 laws of the game and is broken down into 3 or 4 sections. You will be tested after each section. We also teach referee positioning, mechanics, and basic knowledge to get someone introduced to the most basic information needed to start to learn soccer refereeing (uniforms, protocol, etc). We start both days at 8:00 AM and should be finished mid-afternoon on Sunday. The cost is $40 and covers your dues to the local association (BASRA) and the state and national dues. You will also receive the current law book and referee patch. BASRA stands for Billings Area Soccer Referees Association.
 
- Will there be another 2-day certification scheduled?
That depends on the need. These clinics are labor-intensive for the instructors, and we don’t want to teach a class for only a few people.
 
- Who can 're-certify?’ What happens at 're-certify?’ 
A referee must recertify every year by attending a 3 hour clinic and taking and passing the 100 question multiple choice test. We have 3 to 4 ‘re-certs’ per year and the dues are the same, $40.
- How am I assigned league games?
BASRA does the assigning for the local Magic City, Magic 8, and Micro games. Also, we help with the Magic City Classic. We are required by Montana Youth Soccer to have a certified assignor for their competitive games. YSA assigns their own games.
 
- How much am I compensated for league games?
Compensation is based on the age of the teams and the position. If you center ref an older kids’ game, I believe the pay is about $40, and the AR’s get $20. The pay is graduated down from there. Most Micro games use a center referee only, unless AR’s are available, and I believe the pay for that is about $20. These numbers may not be totally accurate, going from memory. I don’t know what YSA pays.
 
- Do I ref every league weekend? How many total games must I ref? Must I center ref? If I am a Grade 8 (adult ref), what age groups must I ref? Can I start off with Magic 8's?  Can I pick my refereeing time slots for league and state, so that there are no conflicts with my kid's games?
Every referee is given an availability sheet for the entire spring season. On this sheet you tell us what days you are available, and you also dictate to what level you feel comfortable. If you do not want to center any games or want to start out at the younger games, you let us know on this sheet. You also let us know your team affiliations--i.e. when your kids’ games are or when you coach your team--you will not be assigned during those games. You can also let us know the maximum number of games to give you on a Saturday. There is no minimum number of games.

- Am I reimbursed for referee certification fees? 
YSA, however, will reimburse a referee for their local dues if they work 4 games. Magic City will reimburse only new coaches one time.
 
- How do I sign up to be a ref for my child's state tournament? What is the deadline? How will I be notified of my state schedule? What is the compensation for a state tournament game?
When you certify, we will also give you instructions on how to sign up on the Montana Referee Web site and e-mail list. This is the site where you submit your availability for any of the three state tournaments. Let them know your comfort level and any team conflicts. Based on this information and with input from the local assignor and instructors, you will be given a referee experience rating that will determine what level you may be assigned at the state level. The state association also uses this to determine if a club has the required number of referees signed up to work any given tournament. Compensation at the state tournaments is about the same as the regular tournaments. The deadline is usually about mid-season. You can also use this site to inform a local assignor for another club that you will be traveling to their city with your team and could work games around their schedule. You get paid at those games also.
THE DEADLINE FOR THE STATE CUP REFEREE SIGN-UP IS THE FIRST WEEK IN MAY. Do not wait until the last minute to register, especially if you are a new ref and have never registered on the montanaref.org site. Last year, many chose to register at the 'eleventh hour' and were shut out!
If there is a shortage of refs for any tournament, teams may be dropped from the tournament! Teams without affiliated refs will be in danger of being dropped! If your team is dropped from the state cup for lack of refs, the club may also fine your team for the bond that is forfeited.
To sign-up, referees will have to go to www.montanaref.org and only to this site to register. If you have not signed onto the montanaref.org web page before and do not have a login and password, you will need to obtain them first. Go to the 'Sign Up' tab. Complete the information and submit. If you happen to know your 16 digit USSF number, you will have instant access. If not, you will need to wait until you get a reply e-mail notifying you that you have been activated. You do NOT need a USSF number to sign up.
If you are a new referee, you will not receive your USSF number until this summer! If you are a new referee or have never registered on this site before, you will need to wait for your instructor to verify that you took the referee course and test and are a certified referee. Once your instructor does this, you will receive an e-mail from this site informing you that you have access.
Once you have access or if you have been previously activated, login and go to 'Members Area,' then to 'Your Tournament' and click on 'New Registration.' You can register for any or all of the post-season tournaments.
If you have a child or children playing or if you are a coach, you must pick ONE and only ONE team to be affiliated with. This is very important. We only ask that you work one match a day on days 1 and 2. If there are an abundance of refs, you may not need to work a match. If there is a shortage of refs for any tournament, teams may be dropped from the tournament. Teams without affiliated refs will be in danger of being dropped. You can also just choose a club to be affiliated with if you do not have a child playing or are not coaching, or you can choose to be totally unaffiliated.
A list of refs per club will be made and sent to all club presidents, showing any  any deficiencies. If we are short refs and can't cover the number of games for the tournament, then some teams may have to be dropped. The major consideration for who gets dropped will be made by the Competition Committee, but a major deciding factor will be refs per club. If a team does not have a ref affiliated with it, that team would be vulnerable to being dropped. This is not something we want to do! 
 
- What if my child's competitive team does not have the two required refs? Will our team be fined for the deficiency? Will our team still be able to play in the state tournament?
That is up to MYSA and Magic City Soccer.


 

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