Gary Voshol

Royal Oak MI USA

First AskTheRef.com Appearance:12/4/2006

First Year Licensed:1998
License Level:Grade 8

Association:USSF
Additional Associations:

When my twin sons were 13, they wanted to ref - those $12 and $14 fees looked like big bucks to them! I had to drive them to the class, and I had filled in as a club line enough times in their game, that I decided I'd take the course too. I found out that I really liked being a ref - well, most of the time anyway.

The only time I played soccer was in 9th grade gym. The gym teacher was the freshman football coach, and he didn't want his players to get hurt playing flag football in class. So we played soccer - without shinguards! In college, my neighbor in the dorm was the JV goalie, so I watched several of those games. I found out just how big soccer was in 1994, when the World Cup came to the US. I left work and passed the Pontiac Silverdome. Someone had rented two giant cranes to support a Swiss flag - which couldn't even be seen from the stadium because it has a dome!

Because I had knee surgury several years before I became a ref, I can't do many advanced level games. If I do a U16 select game, that pretty much wipes me out and it takes a while for my knee to recover. So instead I focus on the U12 and U14 games, many of them in our house league. I also think I have something to give back to the game at that level. I can help out our newby refs as they learn to be AR's and eventually centers at that level. I like to get a more advanced game from time to time to keep me sharp.

I am a former Board member of the Royal Oak Youth Soccer Association.

Hobbies and General Interest