We are proud to announce the establishment of our refereeing association for the Midlands community.  The Midlands Soccer Officials Association (MSOA) was established in June of 2019.  Since that time we have created our Executive Board and governing by-laws with the goal of providing our soccer officials a means to better themselves through proper training, mentoring, and support.  “Quality Officiating through Quality Training”.

Long time officials and assignors James Neary, David Erbacher, Michael Copeland, Dennis Cook, Sara Griggs, Mario Del Pino, and Sophia Hernandez make up the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and three members-at-large respectively.

Board meetings will be held at least four times a year along with several general meetings for the community to participate in and offer their support.  Please join us (RSVP at 803-586-2944) for our first General Meeting of 2020 at the Old Mill Brewpub in Lexington on January 9^th at 7pm.  After our meeting, stay and have dinner with us.  Unfortunately, at this early date, you will have to pay for your food and drink.  Hopefully in the future the association can provide at least the food portion.

The overall objective for the creation of our association is to fill the gap between the referee earning their badge and taking their first steps on the pitch to officiate either as a center or assistant referee.  In December 2019, a pilot training program was held in Lexington with the program created by Robert Correia.  MSOA has plans to have club outreach programs with local soccer clubs where seasoned officials can use low pressure scrimmage scenarios to mentor our newer officials to help them gain confidence, thereby retaining more officials from season to season.

We are working to create our social media accounts to help us communicate more efficiently about upcoming tournaments, clinics, training and mentoring MSOA will be attending or participating in.  If you have a Facebook account, we can be found by searching for “MSOA – South Carolina”.  Our upcoming website will provide useful information gathered from local and national sources critical to bettering yourself as one of our soccer officials.

We are taking the first steps to our future success.