Klay Babin first started refereeing soccer here in Maumelle 11 years ago at age 14. He is currently a State Referee, which is a Grade 5, and is in the process of trying to become a National Referee.

Klay has refereed literally thousands of matches in his 11 year career. He has done matches at the minor league professional level, college, adult amateur, high school, and youth soccer. He has refereed High School Championship Finals as well as State and Regional Championship matches. He is known and respected by almost everyone in the state of Arkansas who is involved in soccer. And he is also known regionally through the professional and college matches he has done.

Because of his experience and expertise, he has been asked to be the Referee Assignor for several local major tournaments. He will be assigning the upcoming first-ever Super Clubs tournament to be held in Arkansas next month at Burns Park.

Klay has also been a referee instructor for the entry-level referee courses, both Grade 9’s and 8’s.

In short, Klay is an extremely valuable, local referee resource and is willing to help out or answer any question that you might have. He can be contacted by email at: KPBabin2@yahoo.com or cell phone: 501-772-1012.

This testimonial e-mail was sent to George Anderson, the State Youth Referee Administrator, from Lawrence Hale upon his return from ODP Camp.

George,

Just wanted you to know that I survived ODP 2010 and I had a blast! The first thing I noticed was the level of soccer that was being played at ODP. It was like night and day compared to our club and competitive leagues we have here locally. It was faster and the tolerance level was much different than I was used to (this style was a lot more fun to ref as it keeps you more on your toes). Also, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate… was the KEY! They had to send a couple of the “YOUNGER” guys home due to various issues (most likely due to the heat and their conditioning). The Arkansas Crew (Kelly, Andre, Charlie and I) definitely represented our state very well and showed that we were ready to go when called upon.

The instructions and assessments we received were really good and working with other referees throughout our region was definitely a plus. I was able to bring back good information that would help make me a better referee. The whole experience really gave me even more confidence that I can perform at a higher level and some of the feedback that I received confirmed it.

Thanks again for the opportunity.
Lawrence