. Check out this letter from the ESSL Referee Coordinator, Jason Sidell, that contains detailed information regarding SAY referee training for the ESSL. 

If you are interested in completing the referee training, but you missed the last scheduled in-person class, please fill out this brief In-Person Referee Class Request form. This will add your name to a list of individuals interested in attending at a later date and if enough people from the Eastwood district are interested, the ESSL Ref Coordinator will set a different date and come to us. You can still complete the online materials at a time that is convenient to you while you wait for the next opportunity for an in-person class.

If you have completed all of the online training, but have not yet attended an in-person class you are eligible to receive the sign-up link to begin refereeing games immediately. Please send your referee test results to [email protected] and fill out the In-Person Referee Class Request form. Once you have done this the sign-up link for Eastwood home games will be sent to you. 

Spring 2023 In-Person Referee Class:
When: March 18th from 9:00am - 12noon
Where: Oregon Municipal bldg located at 5330 Seaman Rd. Pull around behind the bldg and park by the ball diamonds. Look for signs once you enter the bldg.

New refs can continue to use the SAY Soccer referee online training to complete online coursework prior to the in-person meeting. Ohio Soccer Association recognizes that being a rec league, we do not have to follow their guidelines and require the USSF grassroots certification. With that being said, if anyone is thinking about refereeing games outside of the ESSL, they will need the grassroots cert. and should take that course.

The cost for the in-person course is $10. Each referee that attends will receive a new whistle, flip coin, notepad with cards, badge, and rule book. The $10 dollars covers the cost for these items. Payment can be made to Jason Sidell, ESSL ref coordinator, the morning of the class.

After the in-person classroom stuff, Jason would like to offer some on the field training.  More information to come on this, but the hope is to have some teams volunteer to scrimmage in order to allow new referees a chance to get on the field and learn. 

Background check: A volunteer coach is an individual that may have unsupervised access to children participating in a SAY sanctioned activity. The EYSA requires all coaches and assistant coaches to fill out a SAY Volunteer application and local background check each season.  
Please click here to complete the SAY background check. Additionally, please print and fill out this form and turn in to the soccer board in order to complete a local background check through the Wood County Sheriff's office. 

Concussion Certificate of Completion: All SAY Soccer coaches must successfully complete the concussion training every three (3) years, so if it has been more than three years since you completed the concussion certification you will need to update your certification using the National Federation of State High School Associations Concussion in Sports – What You Need to Know link, which can be found at https://nfhslearn.com/courses/concussion-in-sports-2.

You will be asked to create a user account which will save your progress if you have to stop and come back to it later as well as it will save any past completed certificates so you can easily keep track of when you were last certified and can get a copy of your certificate should you need to present it to someone. When you go to the link you will select "Ohio" for your state, then select "order". The course is free, so you won't actually be charged anything when you order. It will ask you to complete a brief registration form prior to beginning the course, which is solely for the purpose of registering you in their data base as having successfully completed the online material. After you have completed this course you will be given the option to print out a personalized certificate of completion (It is suggested that this certificate by printed out in pdf format, otherwise your name may not appear on this certificate).

For reference purposes here is a link to the SAY Soccer Concussion Policy so that you can read in detail the two very distinct procedures of the policy as well as have access to a parent information sheet, key points for suspected concussion, notification form, and return to play form should a participant show signs of a concussion during a practice or game. 

SafeSport Training: The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an independent 501c(3) non-profit organization focused on ending all forms of abuse in sport. SAY (and moreover US Soccer) has teamed with SafeSport for training and certification to help us. The ESSL first implemented this free training for the fall 2019 season. Please note this training will take you approximately 2 hours to complete, but will then only require a short refresher course of approximately 15 minutes for recertification. All SAY Soccer coaches must successfully complete the SafeSport training every two (2) years at a minimum, but according to the SAY Executive Director coaches should ideally be completing a refresher course each season or annually as well. In order to meet the ideal recommendations, the EYSA will require annual updates to SafeSport certification. SAY and US Soccer understand that this is a new burden placed upon us as volunteers and they have given us a link to pay for the course. 

The U.S. Center for SafeSport training transitioned to a new platform in 2022 (known as Absorb) and can now be accessed at safesporttrained.org. For anyone who had a training account on the old platform, this new platform requires a new password. Your username is the email address you used for SafeSport training previously. Once you reset your password you will gain access to your SafeSport trainings and course history. Our listed organization is U.S. Soccer Federation for reference. If you are completing SafeSport training for the first time you will go to safesporttrained.org and complete information on the Sign Up page. Please read this additional information regarding 2022 updates for SafeSport carefully, paying close attention to the instructions for login and training (see page 4). This training is still free of charge for all our volunteers to complete, but setting up your user account correctly is key in order for the website to recognize you as affiliated to SAY Soccer and provide the course for free. On the sign-up page be sure to leave the Member ID blank and for the Name of Sport or Community Organization enter SAY Soccer. Once your account is setup you should click on "My Courses." Here is an example for NEW SafeSport Users. 

If you have never completed SafeSport training, you should take the course entitled, “SafeSport Trained – U.S. Soccer Federation”. If you have taken training before, you should take the next available Refresher Course. If your last course taken was “Refresher 3” your next course would be the “SafeSport Trained – U.S. Soccer Federation” course again. The training runs in a 4-year cycle as follows:
Year 1: SafeSport Trained – U.S. Soccer Federation
Year 2: Refresher 1
Year 3: Refresher 2
Year 4: Refresher 3
Year 5: SafeSport Trained – U.S. Soccer Federation (again)