Young Referees Gain Officiating Experience in Youth Soccer

Not only do players look to gain match experience during the Triple J Auto Group Robbie Webber Youth Soccer League, young referees also gain from officiating youth matches at the Guam Football Association National Training Center.

During the league’s spring season, Catherine Halili started officiating U10 matches, and beginning this fall, she accepted a promotion to officiate U12 matches.

“Officiating in the U12 division is really challenging compared to my experience with the U10 matches,” said Halili, 18, from Dededo. “At the U12 division, players are more mature and the field is bigger, but the biggest difficulty I think is learning the offside rule and enforcing it properly during a match.

“I just started as a referee earlier this year because my friends asked me if I wanted to try. Once I started going to courses and getting assignments, I really enjoyed it. As a referee, you learn a lot about the game’s rules and it also helps me improve as a player and coach, too,” Halili added.

Halili is part of GFA’s referee development program, supported in large part by the Japan Football Association. Once she gains enough experience, the next step in the referee pathway is officiating at the U14 level as an assistant referee and at the middle school level. In Week 6 matches, Halili officiated two U12 matches and also later coached a Community First Dededo Soccer Club U8 team.

In the U17A division, the Wings Red defeated Dededo 11-2 led by Isiah Lagutang’s hat trick. Ryo Sakane, Kaito Inoue, and Daniel Kim each scored twice and Ricky Katsumata and Toy Matsushita also scored. Mike De Leon scored both goals for Dededo.

Quality Distributors defeated the Southern Heat 2-0 with goals from Andrew Baldwin and Jason Kim.

The Paintco Strykers defeated the Guam Shipyard Wolverines 10-1. Ezra Valdez and Joshua Lujan each scored twice for the Strykers and Jason Onedera, Bradley Dickson, Philip “Ronaldo” Au, Justin Johnson, Michael Wang, and Charles Paulino also scored. Ray Aguon scored for the Wolverines.

The Wings Black and the ASC Trust Islanders battled to a 1-1 draw. Jordan Jasmin scored for the Wings Black and Kyle Perez scored for the Islanders.

In the U14 division, the Wings defeated Strykers Red 5-0. Takumi Ito scored twice and Tyler Presto, Lars Peterson, and Preston Boynton also scored.

The Strykers White defeated the Sidekick SC, led by Clayton Mitchell’s hat trick. Xavier Naputi, Vince Cruz, Aidan Dickson, Ethan Elwell, also Errett Bainum also contributed goals in the win.

The Southern Cobras and Dededo battled to a 6-6 draw. Cody Maestrecampo finished with a hat trick for the Cobras and Austin Rioja and Russell Perez also scored. The Cobras’ other goal came on a Dededo own goal. Logan Bracamonte scored three for Dededo and Russell Capaltura scored twice. Joey Green also scored for Dededo.

Quality defeated Islanders Asut 8-0. Alan Thomas and Sam Larkin each scored twice and Eddie Huang, Tiffani Lopez, Connor Law, and Dominic Rohr also scored.

Islanders Betde and the Tigers battled to a 3-3 draw. Marley Cruz, Adryan Gozum, and Mia San Nicolas scored for the Islanders. John Kai Colisao scored twice for the Tigers and Yu Chan Lee once.

In the U12A division, the Sidekick SC defeated the Wings Black 3-0 with goals from Jinae Teria, Shelby Meeks, and Sierra Sheppard.

The Wings Red defeated the Islanders, led by Niclas Vavra’s hat trick. Mark Iseke and Taiga Simon each scored twice and Matt Iseke, Connor Chadwick and Kyle Halehale also scored. Jonathan Sevilla scored the lone goal for the Islanders from the centerline.

The Wolverines defeated the Tigers 3-1. Michael Lee scored twice for the Wolverines and Josiah Bernardo also scored. Nathan Chomel scored for the Tigers.

Youth league action continues Saturday. Players from the U8 and U10 division will participate in the FIFA Grassroots Festival with visiting FIFA technical adviser and coaching course instructor Horst Kriete from Germany and local coaches in the FIFA course.