Ontario Soccer has announced that there are a limited number of free Match Official Mentorship clinics still available to the membership.

As part of the grant provided by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Soccer allocated funding for 25 mentorship clinics. There are only 8 free clinics remaining and organizations which wish to run a Mentorship Clinic at no cost, should act quickly to ensure they are afforded the opportunity.  After the free clinics are utilized, cost is $350.00 per clinic.

“Mentorship is important to Match Officials across the province and these peer-to-peer relationships are the foundation for their future development,” said Kyla Di Perna, Coordinator, Ontario Soccer Match Officials Development. “This program provides a constructive and positive environment and helps build on their individual strengths so that they can continue to advance in their match officiating career.”

Since 2012, Ontario Soccer has annually surveyed the Match Official membership to better understand retention and recruitment concerns.

Close to 70 percent of the respondents indicated that lack of mentorship and support was one of the top three reasons they would not return.

“Ontario Soccer has done a great deal of work on what can be done to ensure that Match Officials return year over year,” said Nicky Pearson, Senior Manager of Match Officials Development. “Since 2012 match official retention in Ontario has increased from 48% to 58% and we are confident that these clinics will only help further that growth.  Districts had the opportunity to access the free clinics in a certain time frame, and now that time has expired, and we are offering these clinics to Clubs.”

The next Match Official Mentorship Clinic being held in Ontario will be in Burlington on Feb. 20.

If you would like to host a Match Official Mentorship Clinic in your region, please contact Kyla Di Perna or visit OntarioSoccer.net/Mentor for more.