How to become a High School Referee in the Central Florida Ridge Soccer Officials Association. (CFRSOA). 

1.  Contact Larry Hughes, President: lhughes21@tampabay.rr.com , or John Bauman, Director of Education: jdbman@msn.com or Cleve Hillman, assignor: Hillman@usa.net .
   
2. AFTER JUlY 1, 2011 go on line to the Florida High School Athletic  Association’s (FHSAA) website to register with the state. The website is https://www.fhsaa.org.  Click on the "For Contest Officials" tab and follow the directions. You will need a credit card to pay your fee. The fee is approximately $34.  (Note: new officials are NOT charged a late fee after Oct 1st but returning officials are!) Choose Central Florida Ridge Soccer Officials Association as your primary association. Retruning officials - select 00 (closed book) as your test type. New officials - choose the open book option 01.
   
3. Contact Cleve Hillman at hillman@usa.net to be placed in the assigning system ( www.ArbiterSports.com) You will not be placed into the system until I have verification of fingerprinting/background check..
   
4. Obtain rule book, FHSAA Officials Guidebook and Patch from Larry Hughes.. Books will be available after Registration.
   
5. You will take an online Course on FHSAA areas of concern. This is commonly refereed to as the Rules Clinic. Website is http://officials.fhsaa.org/resources/ . Dates to take this will be shown on the association website www.cfrsoa.org (2011 dates are 9/20 - 10/19).  Note: New officials who join after the normal viewing period can view this after registering; email a copy of the completion certificate to Dr. Peggy Jones  “  Phone: (352) 372-9551 ext. 180 Fax: (352) 372-9086  E-mail: pjones@fhsaa.org Administrative Assistant: Colette Walinski, ext. 300 E-mail: cwalinski@fhsaa.org” and she will give you credit for the viewing.
   
6. Take an on-line multiple-choice test on the FHSAA rules (It is strongly recommended that new officials take the OPEN BOOK online test). This will be done online; you will be able to select testing from your logged in page . Dates are available on the FHSAA.org website (FHSAA website shows 2011 dates to be 10/21 - 10/26 for open book and 11/3 to 11/14 for closed book). Date should also be in the Grey Florida officials handbook you should receive with your rules book. If one fails to receive a 76 or better, the test can be retaken during the makeup period in December (2011 dates are: 12/2 - 12/6). Again these dates are available in the Grey book or online at the FHSAA website.
   
7. The state mandates that all adults having contact with children at a school facility must pass a background check (Jessica Lundsford Act); this includes getting fingerprints taken. This is coordinated through the Polk County School Board, the School Board of Hardee County, or the School Board of Highlands County. This must be done before I can add you to www.ArbiterSports.com for assignments!!!! A new state law mandates that the schools share and honor this information no matter in which school district one has the background check done.
   
8. In Polk County contact Ann Marshall at 534-9253.  Cost is $81.25 money order, credit card or cashiers check. The finger printing is good for five years. The association can help with the upfront cost - contact Ken Miller and he can arrange to pre-pay the cost if needed. Call and confirm cost and payment method when making an appointment. The site is located in Bartow just off of highway 60 on the east edge of town. It is in module 1 just behind the area where lots of school buses are parked. If you are headed east, you must go past the location (just past the overpass where highway 17 goes over 60) and make a U-turn to enter. You can park in fromt of the transportation building and walk east to module 1. Please make of copy of your registration paper and send/emal to the assignor (Cleve Hillman).
   
9. In Hardee County contact the Personnel Department at 863-773-9058. 
   
10. In Highlands County, contact the Human Resources Department at 863-471- 5555.
    
11. CFRSOA uses a web based game assignment system called arbitersports. If, when you registered, you designated CFRSOA as your primary association, you will be added to the CFRSOA muster list by FHSAA and I will obtain your name and email from that list. Then you will be added to ArbiterSports.com and will receive a welcome email from ArbiterSportss. Follow the directions to confirm and activate your registration.  Once you have registered with CFRSOA, our association will keep in touch with you to advise of meetings, education opportunities, game assignments, and areas of concern.
    Consider becoming a United States Soccer Federation referee (USSF). This is the governing body for all soccer in the United States, other than college and high school. USSF has plenty of youth games that you can officiate in the fall. This will give you great experience and help prepare for the high school season. Contact John Bauman (see Item 1) for more information.
    
12. Referee uniforms and gear are available at many sporting goods stores (a local source is Sams Sport Shop 210 East Highland Dr E (behind Walgreens on S. Fla Av, Lakeland) 863.646.3407). If this is not an option. Check out some of our recommended online stores by clicking the links button in the menu, The basic needs are:  Gold jersey with black pin stripes, Black official’s shorts, black socks with whites stripes at the top, whistle, watch, Red, yellow and Blue cards, Black shoes, and some method of record keeping. 
    Not mandatory but handy; Secondary jersey - Black or red with white pin strips a second whistle and a second pair of socks.
    
13. IF ANY OF THIS PRESENTS A FINANCIAL HARDSHIP FOR YOU, PLEASE contact Ken Miller at KJMRef@tampabay.rr.com or 863-286-2121. 
    Please keep Cleve Hillman apprised of your progress, as he cannot assign anyone until the fingerprinting has been done!!!!!!!