STEPS TO BECOMING A GRASSROOTS REFEREE

Per U.S. Soccer, new referees must be 13 years of age or older at the time they register. State Referee Committees have no discretion in changing this.

Create a profile in OMS:

• Go to tn.omgtsys.com

• Click on “New Member Registration”

• You will be directed to a page to fill out your personal information. Please use your LEGAL name (i.e. no nicknames), your current mailing address, and an email address that will be checked often. Your primary email address will be your username and you can set your password to be anything you want (at least 6 characters, only numbers and letters). Please note, that sometimes communications from OMS go to your junk folder, so check that often.

• You may be prompted to complete a background check acknowledgment. This is a legal requirement for the system but is NOT an actual background check. You will need to complete a background check (if 18+) as one of your assignments within your course.

From your Member Home Page, select the Register for Clinic/Fitness Test link in the Registration drop-down menu at the top of the page. The screens that follow will guide you through the steps involved in the registration process:

• The first screen will ask if you have ever been convicted of a felony, violent crime, crime against a person, or fraud The Referee, New Registration, and Grassroots Referee should automatically be chosen.

• You will then move to the second page, which will be where you can register for the clinic. Select the Reserve Clinic button next to the Field Training Session you want to attend.

• You will then be directed to the next page – Checkout to Pay the Associated Fees. Here you will see the breakdown of the course fees. $40 is the annual USSF registration fee. and $58 will come to the Tennessee Soccer Referee Program, for a total of $98. You MUST pay the ENTIRE fee at once. After confirming the total, click “Complete Requests and Pay Fees”.

• After clicking the “Complete Requests and Pay Fees”, a box will appear at the bottom of the page with billing information. Here you will fill out the payment information to finalize your registration. Once the payment is processed, you will receive an email receipt to your primary email address on file.

Once you have registered for a course, you will see your registered clinic in a new box on your member homepage. Select the Online Lessons button to see all of the assignments that need to be completed BEFORE you can reserve a spot for the in-person training (you may need to scroll down to see this). You have until NOON on the Friday before your desired clinic to complete your assignments. If they are not completed, you will not be allowed to attend the clinic.

• For some of these assignments, you will be directed to go to the US Soccer Learning Center. If you do not already have an account, you will be required to create one. Be sure that you use the SAME information that you used for OMS. Once you complete an assignment in the Learning Center, you can go back to OMS and the system will update with your completed process.

• Background Check – you will be directed to the US Soccer Learning Center to complete a background check if you are over 18. The background check is an additional $30 that you will pay directly through the assignment. It can take 5-10 business days for your results to come back. Please note your results MUST BE back in order for you to attend the course. Your results will be valid for 2 years.

• US Soccer Grassroots Referee Entry Module – you will be directed to the US Soccer Learning Center to complete the module. This module can take about 4 ½ hours and can be taken in multiple sittings. Be sure to close out of the Learning Center if you are not finishing the entire module in one sitting.

• Upon completion of this module, you will receive an email from US Soccer congratulating you on completion of the referee course – this DOES NOT mean you have completed all pre-requisite assignments. You can find instructions for your remaining assignments under “Online Lessons” in your OMS profile.

Once you have completed all assignments, you are ready to attend your in-person session. Upon completing the in-person session, you will receive your badge and your certification will be finalized. Your certification will be valid until December 31, 2022.

Email referee@tnsoccer.org if you have any questions about this process.