Welcome to the Ohio Soccer Association North (OHN) State Referee Committee (SRC) web site.
This site is designed to be a source for all Ohio North referee related information.

If you are looking for information regarding leagues, tournaments or players you may visit the Ohio Youth Soccer site.

Use the navigation area on the left to select the topic you wish to visit.

Information on new referee clinics is available under the Becoming a Referee section of the site.

Existing referees may find recertification and upgrade clinics on the Upcoming Referee Clinics portion of the site.

LATEST NEWS

2010 Referee Recertification Clinics and Upgrade Clinics

Please be sure to visit the Upcoming Referee Clinics link for upcoming referee clinics in Ohio North. New dates are being added everyday, so be sure to check back often if the type of clinic or host district is not yet offered in the listing.

Attention Grade 7 Referees

Referee Class 1, commonly called a grade 7 referee, have earned their upgrade by their experience and demonstrating their proficiency on an upgrade assessment.  However, once a referee attained a grade 7 they have never been required to demonstrate their continued proficiency at that grade.  Unlike State Referees which are required to have an annual assessment in order to maintain their grade, there has been no such requirement for grade 7.  Yet grade 7 referees are looked up at by the refereeing community and assumed to have greater skills than a grade 8 or 9 referee.  Their performance reflects on the Ohio North Referee program not only when they officiate locally but also when they travel to tournaments outside the state.  The State Referee Committee has determined that we need to ensure that the grade 7 referees continue to be good ambassadors of the Ohio North Referee program by keeping their skills up to date.

Effective this year, all grade 7 referees will be required to have a maintenance assessment in 2010 in order to be certified as a grade 7 for 2011.  The assessment will follow the same guidelines that are required in the administrative handbook for a person to be upgraded to a grade 7.  The assessed game should be full length at U-17 or higher and of a sufficient difficulty level that the referee can demonstrate their skills.  Grade 7 referees will be required to have an assessment biannually after that to maintain their level.  District Referee Administrators will be required to certify that the official has met the assessment requirement as well as having successfully passed the annual physical fitness and written tests before submitting the grade 7 referee for recertification.   Contact your local Assistant State Director of Assessment to schedule your assessment.

Blaz Pesorda Honored By Two Hall Of Fames

Two separate organizations recognized Blaz Pesorda’s contributions to soccer this past year.  In October our State Assignor Coordinator was inducted by the United States Adult Soccer Association into their hall of fame.  Then in November, Blaz was also inducted into the Ohio Youth Soccer Association North’s hall of fame.  We congratulate Blaz on these achievements.  Following is the testimonial that was in the USASA’s hall of fame brochure and a picture of Blaz in earlier years.  (He’s the good looking guy the third from the left.)

Blaz Pesorda of Wellington, Ohio, has over 50 years of experience as an official, assessor, assignor and instructor, as well as an administrator, organizer and proponent of the game.

Upon his arrival in the United States in 1969, Mr. Pesorda started his affiliation with the local soccer community.  He founded the Ohio Soccer Referees Association and served as its President for ten years.  He has officiated games at the professional level for the German, Polish and Israeli National Teams.  He has also officiated teams in Croatia, Serbia and the USA Olympic Team.

Throughout his association with the game, Blaz has continued instructing new candidates at referee clinics, and assessing new experienced officials during the season.  In 2003, he achieved the rank of a National Assessor for the National Inter-Collegiate Soccer Officials Association (NISOA).

The Croatia native has promoted the game of adult soccer in the capacity of commissioner, assignor and treasurer of the North Coast Soccer League of Cleveland, Ohio.  He has been an assignor for over 30 years in the adult leagues in and around the Cleveland area.  Furthermore, Blaz has held instructional clinics for new assignors for many years.  In 2008, over 90 assignors were registered in Ohio North.  He was the first one in the area to promote women’s soccer.  He was also the first assignor in Cleveland to assign a female official to Division I games.

Mr. Pesorda was Vice President for the Ohio Soccer Association-North for ten years.  He was elected to serve as the association’s Registrar in 2004 and has been in that capacity since.  He also serves on the USASA Credentials Committee.  Blaz is the recipient of the USASA Referee of the Year in 2006.

Want to learn more about officiating? Go to U. S. Soccer's “You Make the Call,”

If you have any information you think should be added to the site, please send the information to the site’s webmaster.

This site was updated on January 25, 2010.