Upgrading to a Regional Referee
STEP 1: GETTING EVALUATIONS DONE
*> Between the dates of July 1 {2026} and June 30 {2027}, you'll need to be evaluated three times as a referee. Of those three games, one of them can be U19, the other two must be Adult. Each of those evaluations must be performed by a different Referee Coach. Rhode Island current has *two* Referee Coaches (Mark Oliver and Mark Ferreira) who can usually take care of two out of the three. The State Referee Committee will enlist help from Mass or Conn or NH for the third match.*> Each of those assessments will give you a "final score", based on your general work in the match, with additions and/or subtractions for various items (like a bonus for getting a difficult PK called, or a subtraction for not issuing a caution when it was needed). I'd be happy to go through the evaluation process in detail if you want to see the spreadsheet.*> We (meaning you and the RISRC) collect those three evals, and we AVERAGE the three scores. If the AVERAGE of all three scores is 8.0 or higher, you've PASSED that portion of the process. It means you can have a GOOD game (say 8.2 or 8.3) along with a TOUGH game (say 7.8 or 7.9) and as long as the third game is 8.0-ish, you will be fine. If for some reason that magic 8.0 isn't reached after the third eval, you CAN ask for a fourth evaluation, and that score would replace your LOWEST grade (hopefully putting you over 8.0).
STEP 2: OTHER ITEMS
*> You'll need to provide a list of all Adult/U-19 games that you've done in your career to the RISRC. You need at least 25 middles and 10 lines.
*> You'll need to attend and pass a Regional Referee Fitness Test. There are typically 7-8 of these scheduled between July 1 and June 30. The test is a combination of 40 meter sprints and 75 meter runs and takes under an hour to complete.
STEP 3: ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED ALL OF THE ABOVE ITEMS
You will register for the Regional Referee Upgrade course {for 2028} which typically is created in Learning Center around mid-July {2027}. You'd have 4-5 months to complete all the modules in that course. You would also upload the PDF copy of your evals into the course. Once you have completed all the Learning Center course items, your Upgrade will be complete!