Soccer season is set to begin, and Parsons High School junior Antonio Aita is ready for the challenge, not on the field as an All-League goalkeeper, but working on the sidelines as a certified referee.
Aita was first handed a whistle and told to “Go ref” by David Wheat when Aita was in fourth grade playing on the Kiwanis League and a surgery kept him from participating as a player that season. Aita found he really enjoyed refereeing and the following fall he asked coach LaKaito Barr-Miller at the Parsons Rec Center if he could help referee soccer for the PRC.
Barr-Miller let him run around with a whistle for the season. That opportunity was extended for a couple of years and eventually Aita had the chance to referee higher competitive games within the PRC. By then, his passion for refereeing was solidified.
“My freshman year of high school I became really good friends with a KSHSAA (Kansas State High School Activities Association) and collegiate official and he got me connected with the United States Soccer Federation in Kansas,” Aita said. “I’ve been U.S. Soccer certified for three years now. This last November I (refereed) the President’s Cup Tournament in the state of Kansas and I did several other tournament finals, and league games.
“I just got Futsal certified and accepted into the Kansas Soccer Referee Academy and apparently they are looking into me for regionals,” he added.
Fourteen may seem a young age to become a certified referee, but Aita said at the U.S. Soccer level they start as young as 11.
“At the KSHSAA level I’m one of the youngest. They certified 16 in the state, but it’s not very common,” Aita said.
Now at age 17, Aita referees for both soccer and basketball games in Kansas and neighboring states. It is not an easy job. Besides the travel and long hours, attitudes of the public can make the job more difficult, but Aita hangs in there. There have been a few times he has felt like hanging up his whistle, however he said that is not a decision he will make right after a game at which people are verbally abusing the officials.
“When coaches, and fans and parents and players are yelling at you it’s definitely something you have to overcome. It’s not acceptable, especially with younger referees like me and even younger than me. No one deserves to be yelled at,” he said. “They say when you officiate, it’s the first time that you’re going to be yelled at that’s not your coach or your parents, and there’s a lot of truth to that. It’s one thing when it comes from someone you trust and someone you know, but when you are yelled at by 50 fans, it’s a whole other experience. It messes with your mind a little. Different referees have different ways of dealing with it. It just kind of depends.”
Regardless of the occasional outburst from the sidelines, Aita loves the sport of soccer, being around it and the connections.
“Same with basketball, still love the sport and being around the sport. I’m not good enough to play at high school, so this keeps me involved in the sport,” he said.
As far as the officiating goes, Aita says he loves the mental and physical challenges.
“It’s a very competitive space so you have to excel in that high pressure environment and be competitive, too, to get the next higher-level game,” he said.
Another aspect he loves, he said, is the soccer community is great to be a part of.
“They joke around and say it’s a family, and it really is. I have so many connections across the state, across the county and even across the nation now,” he said.
Those are connections he is going to miss during his senior year. Aita is stepping away from playing for the Vikings and refereeing and is embracing the opportunity during the 2024-2025 academic year to be a foreign exchange student in Spain ‑a country that loves soccer (known as football there).
As much as he is planning for his travels abroad, he is also planning towards his return.
He’s looking at potentially playing soccer in college upon coming back to the U.S.
“Officiating has really helped my game. I see the game a whole different way. When I officiate, playing has also helped me as I am able to feel the ball through the movement of the game. They go hand-in-hand and work out super well together,” he said. “And maybe I’ll apply to come back to officiating at the high school or U.S. Soccer level. I eventually want to get NISOA (National Intercollegiate Soccer Official Association) certified, which is for college referees and possibly being a U.S. National Soccer referee and go that path,” he said. “I have some ambitions. It’s a ton of fun for me.”
He is also looking forward to referring a game with his father, who also just became U.S. Soccer certified. “It’s nice,” he said of inspiring his father to step into the world of refereeing. “There are other people I’ve helped get into the community, at the recreational level, getting them to be a trained ref. Every year now for the past two or three seasons I’ve done a soccer referee course at the Rec Center to help train those newer refs that are doing the PRCC season. I think that’s more important than giving my dad a whistle, but I’m excited to eventually do a game with my dad. I think that will be cool, especially if I’m the one in the middle, because that means I’m in charge.”
The referee classes at the PRC will be available soon. Attendees don’t become certified, but they learn more about the rules for the rec games.
“If someone is interested, pick up a whistle and at least try it out,” Aita said. “We make pretty good money, but we also have a ton of fun doing it, so if you’re interested in trying to stay in the sport and want to get some exercise, pick up a whistle and we can get you into some sort of league.”