I think all the posts state an important fact. Too often players are put at risk by officials that do not have a proper knowledge of the game and quite honestly not the proper level of professionalism. Evaluating officials is an animal that can provide accurate information or biased garbage. The integrity of the coaches that are doing the evaluating is as important as the officials treating the importance of their job. Too often the only evaluation that one can receive is one that is based on the negative.
On the other hand about officials' certification, I agree too that they needs to be a better system in training the HS officials. Currently there are officials that don't have USSF background and are officiating HS games. These officials need better training rather than "taking a test" each year.
One last note, each region should strive to work towards a three person referring system. Positioning would not be such a problem and there would be a better way to evaluate how a match goes, based on the only whistle in the middle. There needs to be a better job of bringing people into the reffing world so that there is not a short coming of officials and administrators have to understand the importance of funding three officials.
