Doing your first few games as a center referee can be intimidating.  Our seasoned team of experienced referees has developed this tip-sheet to help you as you take control of your first games.

• Stay calm, focused, and always professional!  Coaches, players, parents may get emotional but you should not!  No matter what! Take your time in all things… think , decide, then act!  See next tip.
• You will make mistakes!  No one is perfect, so do not dig a deeper hole by making up new rules or giving make-up calls.  Learn from your mistakes and move on. See tip above.
• Be close to play! You really help yourself by moving around the field a bit and not staying in the imaginary 20-yard center circle most of the game. 

• Be in the right position! Most decisions you make are pretty easy but for those 50/50 calls, being in the right position will give you more credibility you need.  Coaches and parents will then be less likely to challenge you calls.

• Generally, follow closely behind where the ball is in play, beginning with the kick-off where you should line-up behind where the ball is being kicked forward into play.
• Generally, run a diagonal – keep the ball between you and the AR.

• Engage your AR’s – they are your best friends.  Make eye contact and leverage their calls.

• Smile and be friendly – it helps to reinforce you are there to help and are not looking to have a contentious relationship.

• Sell your call!  Showing confidence, being assertive and not being an overbearing referee makes it easier for you to sell your call.

• Also, sell your non-calls.  If there’s contact but no foul, it’s OK to say "no foul" or "nothing" or to hold both hands up in the air to show you saw what happened and there’s no foul. If the ball hits someone’s hand but it’s not deliberate, hold your hands out to the side and say “keep playing”, or “not deliberate” to show you saw it but it’s not a foul.

• Use that whistle! Most new referees don't blow their whistle loud enough.  Make sure you are heard on the field.  Next to your voice, the use of the whistle is your most important refereeing tool.  It is important for all players to hear when the whistle is blown.  Be loud enough for all to hear.

• Give a short, but deliberate blast of the whistle when an offside or minor foul has occurred.  Give a longer blast if they continue playing the ball.
• Give a longer, stronger blast if there’s a hard foul and you want to send a signal that you weren’t happy with what you saw and you want the behavior to stop.

• Arm signals!  Generally, stop moving and clearly show your signal.  Free kick, throw-in and corner kick signals are made above the horizontal.  Do not cross your arm over your face when signal these restarts.  Goal kicks are made on the horizontal or slightly below.  Penalty kicks signals are below the horizontal, pointing to the penalty mark.  Goals are on the horizontal, pointing to the center mark.  Finally, don't forget to raise your arm on indirect free kick restarts until the ball has touched a second player or after the ball has gone out of play.

• Know the restarts for fouls (Law 12):  Most of the direct free kick fouls resulting in a free kicks are clear (e.g., tripping, pushing, deliberate hand ball, etc.).  Some of the fouls that trip people up:

• Goalkeeper carries the ball out of the penalty area – handball - direct free kick where the ball crossed the beyond penalty area (not a penalty kick).
• Pass back to the goalkeeper – needs to be a deliberate pass back – indirect free kick from the point of infraction (not a penalty kick).  If the goalkeeper picks up the ball in the goal area, the ball is placed on the 6 yard line closest to where the goalkeeper picked up the ball.  Defenders should line up on the goal line between the goal posts (or 10 yards away).