North Florida Soccer Officials AssociationThe first NFSOA meeting for the 2023-2024 season has been scheduled for Sunday, September 10 at 6:00 p.m. Mega’s Pizza is the location of the meeting and food and soft drinks will be served.
All members and prospective members are required to attend. We will discuss rule changes and areas of emphasis for next season.
Meeting details:
Here are 5 Things to Know for the upcoming high school season, including FHSAA registration, ID badge checks, and hydration tips.
Early Bird registration is $45, a $10 discount on the regular cost. You can register by logging in to your Arbiter account and then clicking on the FHSAA Central Hub. Click on the “REGISTRATION” link near the top of the page.
2. Renew your Expiring ID Badge Now
Background checks and ID badges are good for five years. Your ID badge has the date it expires on it, underneath your photo. This summer is the perfect time to take care of renewing it. You can find all the information about the background check process on the NFSOA website: click here.
3. Pre-season Meetings in September and October
We will hold two preseason meetings, one in September and one in October. Dates will be announced in early August and will be added to the calendar.
4. Rule Changes Available For Review
If you want to get a head start on the rule changes for next season, you can download the NFHS rules change presentation. The NFHS Rules app and the Soccer Guide/Comparative Study of Laws and Rules have NOT been updated with the new rules. We expect these updates to be complete in the next few weeks.
5. Find Your Next Crew Member
We need more members, so help make sure we continue to have the best referees in the state. You can direct prospective new members toour website at nfsoa.com/join. If they have questions, they can get in touch via the Contact Us page.
Before you go, did you know your heart works harder if you are dehydrated? Here are some tips to stay well-hydrated.
Starting this season, Duval County Public Schools pay officials via ArbiterPay, so make sure you have this set up. All other schools continue to use paper checks via the sign in sheet. Full details are here
We now require a very brief report each time you caution a coach (or assistant coach, trainer, etc). Tracking coach misconduct allows us to understand and address recurring misconduct problems.
Our website has a short form that takes less than two minutes to complete. There are drop down lists for the school names and the narrative you normally include with a USSF report is optional. You need to know the name of the coach you cautioned, which is listed on the roster. Keep in mind that this system is for coach/staff cautions only. If you disqualify a coach, please call Allison King during your drive home from the game.
After you submit a report, you’ll receive a confirmation email from nfsoanotifications@gmail.com
Please bookmark https://nfsoa.com/cards now so that you have easy access.
Fletcher, Creekside and St. Johns Country Day weren’t the only Northeast Florida teams making history at the FHSAA girls soccer championships.
A crew from the Jacksonville-based North Florida Soccer Officials Association achieved a notable first by taking charge of the Class 4A girls soccer final.
Alexandra Billeter, a former University of North Florida forward who has also officiated in the National Women’s Soccer League, served as the referee, assisted by Joan Hyland, Dana Jones and Kaitlin Hartford.
Although officiating records aren’t complete for all FHSAA finals, association officials said it’s believed to be the first time on record that an all-female crew — referee, assistants and fourth official — handled a state soccer championship.
Bishop Moore won the 4A final, 4-2 against Delray Beach American Heritage
We have switched our jerseys from the Smitty’s FHSAA teal jersey to the USSF yellow and blue jerseys. Please read our full uniform requirements here (nfsoa.com/uniforms) and do NOT purchase the teal FHSAA jersey.
Our next referee meeting will be on Monday, October 25th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at:
Shultz Center, 4019 Boulevard Center Drive, Jacksonville, FL, 32207.
The annual certification exam is now open, but new rules will be reviewed at the meeting so you may want to take the test after attending the meeting.
The Preseason Tournament games will be played on November 1 and 3rd. The Regular Season begins November 8.
We are in still in need of more officials, particularly in the outlying areas, so if you know of anyone please help them register at FHSAA.org. I will begin the assignment process soon , so please register if you haven’t done so already. Let me know if you have moved your home or work location. and your availability, particularly for middle school.
New documents for the 2021-2022 season, including the FHSAA Soccer Manual, the Officials Guidebook (gray book) and the NFHS Points of Emphasis are now available for download, here.
You can purchase a digital copy of the NFHS Soccer Rule Book for the Apple Books app or for the Amazon Kindle app. The Amazon Kindle app is available in both Apple and Android app stores.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday break. Assignments for the month of January will be done weekly. Below is the planned release dates for January assignments.
Three things I know we are not doing at every game :
1. If there is a scoreboard clock that is going to be used, one of the crew needs to talk to the scoreboard operator. Explain briefly when the clock starts and stop and how you are going to signal for the clocks stops and starts. Also cover how and when you will communicate to them if the time needs to be corrected.
2. Please, please, please identify the school administrator when you arrive at the school or site. You need to know the name of the administrator and where they will be located during the game. If they are covering multiple events, get their cell number. If there is no school administrator, do not make a scene, call Allison and she will tell you what to do next. Do not tell anyone – including coaches, school personnel, parents and fans – that the game will not start because there is not an administrator.
3. If you issue a blue card or red card. Call me as soon as you can after the game. If I don’t answer send me a text or email with a brief description of what happened. Also let Allison know if a red card was issued, there was a massive brawl or something unusual happened.
WEEK ONE –
Allison is working on the assignments now for January 5th – January 8th and those assignments will go out by Friday, January 1st. There is a below average game count for the these dates because it is the first week back to school.
WEEK TWO –
We are waiting on the Gateway Conference and St. Johns River Conference tournament schedules. Allison needs to have these tournament schedules before the assignments for the week of January 11th – 15th can be completed. The winners of the first round of games will determine the game schedule for the following week. These assignments will go out by Friday, January 8th.
WEEK THREE & FOUR – The plan is to have both of these done by January 15th. The last regular season play date is January 30th.
Playoff Schedule –
District Tournaments
When: Monday-Wednesday, Feb. 1-10, 2021 – These will be assigned as soon as we have the seeding finalized by FHSAA and the host schools confirmed.
Regional Tournaments
Boys
Girls
Now is the time to register with FHSAA to referee high school soccer. If you have not registered yet for the 2020-21 season, please get it done this week. We have been waiting on asking you to register until we were certain that there would be high school games played this year. Because we waited until we had confirmation, we are now way behind on our association members getting registered with FHSAA. Again, please get registered ASAP.
To register with FHSAA, log on to arbiter sports website and switch views to FHSAA central hub. Click on the registration tab and follow the instructions. During the registration process you will be asked when your JLA badge expires. If you don’t know the date your JLA badge expires just leave it blank.
I will have an update on meeting times and dates next week. Our meetings will most likely take place online.
NFSOA Dues this year will be $40 if paid in September and $50 after October 1st.
You can mail your NFSOA dues to Rick Squibb. His address is 1329 Smiling Fish Lane St. Augustine, FL 32080.
You can also Venmo your NFSOA dues to him. Email Rick for his Venmo details.
If you are not planning on registering to referee high school this year, please email Allison King. Her email address is saaaaking -at- yahoo dot com.