FCArmstrong

My US Soccer Mentor journey.

My journey in football started when I was only 8 years old, the game has been with me for the last four decades. As a player I learned that the game is the best teacher. I’ve been playing the game through most of those four decades. I’ve been coaching the game at the youth, high school and college level for the past two decades. During my coaching journey, I realized that the best way to teach the spirit of the game was to step inside the lines and join the third team. Once I stepped inside the pitch as a referee I began the journey of learning the art of officiating. Through my journey, I’ve had four main in person mentors. Whenever I had a difficult game, they would always be there to listen to me and help me reflect and learn from those experiences.

I stepped into the US Soccer Referee Program in Pennsylvania as the referee shortage grew. Since I had the player and coach experience I was learning all levels of the game at the same time. I only had one slow year of learning and then I was thrown into all games by multiple assigners. My coaching experience has allowed me to read the game and predict what the game will need.

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