By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
April 2, 2020-
CDREF (Capital District Referee) was founded in 2008 when they left the umbrella of the
Capital District Youth Soccer League (CDYSL).
The first President was Luigi Corceone, Ron Clark (Secretary) and Paul Bascomb (Treasurer).
In 2010, Roger Monthie was elected President and he was instrumental in having CDREF incorporated as a non-profit affiliated with
US Soccer and the
Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA).
Under the current leadership of President Paul Bascomb, CDREF has 178 certified referees for 2020 and provides referees for the CDYSL, State Cup play, the
Eastern Development Program (EDP) and the Super-Y League.
”The CDREF organization has a very good reputation around the soccer community, and many current members also officiate high school and college games,” commented President Bascomb.
Emilie Buse, Roger Monthie and Mike Rennick are CDREF’s state certified instructors.
”CDREF President Paul Bascomb is also a member of the CDYSL Executive Board. On a regular basis, they would get updates regarding CDREF,” CDYSL President Roy Pfeil explained. ”One of the concerns was the shortage and drop out rate of officials and what could be done to remedy the problem. Subsequently, CDYSL created the ZTEC, Zero Tolerance Committee, of which I volunteered to be Chairperson.”
Pfeil continued, ”I dealt with all of the referee reports that came into the CDYSL office regarding any incidents that occurred during games where coaches, players or spectators got out of hand. Over time, I slowly increased the severity of penalties handed out which ranged from warnings and small fines, to larger fines, to fines/suspensions, etc. The idea was to let people know that referee abuse and harassment was not going to be tolerated.”
The CDYSL drew up a list of recommended protocols that officials, coaches and parents should follow in working through any concerns during the game. The protocols state that if somebody is causing problems, there are appropriate ways for officials to deal with it and at the same time, coaches, players, club administrators and parents can express their concerns about an official outside of the game in question. Along with the identified protocols, there was a general statement reminding everyone that this is about kids
PLAYING A GAME, and everybody makes mistakes, including refs.
”What Paul has done as CDREF President is take the protocols and remind the officials how to deal with adversity appropriately and what they can do to reach their potential as officials,” Pfeil concluded.
Zero Tolerance and the protocols have created a better game environment for all concerned.
With approximately 100,000 youth soccer players––both boys and girls––and more than 25,000 volunteers, the non-profit Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with nine leagues throughout the association, which covers the entire state of New York east of Route 81. ENYYSA exists to promote and enhance the game of soccer for children and teenagers between the ages of 5 and 19 years old, and to encourage the healthy development of youth players, coaches, referees and administrators. All levels of soccer are offered––from intramural, travel team and premier players as well as Children With Special Needs. No child who wants to play soccer is turned away. ENYYSA is a proud member of the United States Soccer Federation and United States Youth Soccer Association. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.