PRO to hold clinic for select group of referee assessors

As part of its commitment to referee development and succession planning, PRO is holding a clinic for a select group of 23 assessors from throughout the country in San Antonio, Texas, this coming weekend (April 18).

The three-day clinic is focused on providing training for top non-MLS assessors who will be working to evaluate and coach games in the NASL, USL and international friendly matches officiated by MLS fourth officials and referee prospects. The assessors have been chosen from U.S. Soccer’s list of National Assessors.

Training includes attending Saturday’s NASL match between the San Antonio Scorpions and Indy Eleven. PRO fourth official Mathieu Bourdeau will take the whistle for the match. After the game, the evaluators will prepare a mock assessment and PRO staff will lead a discussion to ensure conformity in feedback – both written and verbal, conformity in identification of the significant coaching points, and conformity in assessment methodology.

Other highlights of the course will be a reflection on the 2015 initiatives for match officials, the 2015 PRO assessment scheme, and a review of what the assessing corps needs to be looking for in the talented prospects they are assigned to observe.

Brian Hall, PRO’s Match Official Development Manager, believes that the event furthers prior efforts on succession planning for referees and now for assessors.

He told proreferees.com: “PRO has recognized the importance of the assessor or referee coach in the development of match officials.

“This weekend’s clinic is another step in executing PRO’s vision of filling the pipeline with future MLS officials.

“The need to provide constant and consistent feedback to the second-tier referees, especially face-to-face contact, is vital in the growth of our future professional referees.”

It is expected that the trained assessors will be assigned to evaluate prospects along with the current MLS evaluator staff.

The number of games that will be assessed in-stadium will be significantly increased from 2014.

As part of its commitment to referee and assessor development, PRO stated: “More resources will be utilized to travel assessors to games.

“And, more importantly, we have already begun the process of finding more avenues to challenge select match officials by traveling more of them to games which requires them to perform outside of their comfort zone.”