MYSL Young Referees Of The Year for 2005/06

The Middlesex Youth Soccer League is proud to present the 2005-06 recipients of the league Young Referee Of The Year award.

This award goes to young referees who have distinguished themselves both on and off of the soccer field as outstanding referees, scholars, and role models within their community. Our league is very proud of their achievements!

Samantha Caplan

Samantha Caplan, 18, of Tewksbury is this year's Young Female Referee of the Year for the MYSL.

Samantha's history in refereeing began at the age of 9 when she began refereeing in-town games. Samantha's interest in refereeing continued to grow and she eventually became certified as a Grade 11 referee in 1999 and then moved up to Grade 8 in 2001.

After becoming a Grade 8, Samantha steadily increased her involvement in refereeing and ultimately was appointed to officiate at the MYSL Commissioner's Cup. This is where Samantha hit her stride and won acclaim as the 2004 Commissioner's Cup Young Female referee of the tournament. Samantha then went on in 2004 and 2005 to stretch her skills further by winning state appointments to officiate at the State Cup, MTOC, and District Select Tournament. Samantha also won recognition from the Eastern Mass. Women's Soccer League by being asked to participate in their playoffs as an Assistant Referee!!

Samantha excels off the field as well as she does on it. Samantha is an honor roll student at Tabor Academy (located in Marion, MA), she serves on the student council, is co-chair of the Tabor Academy Community Service Club, and is a member of the Model United Nations group. Samantha also finds time to sing as a member of the Madrigals choral group and to serve as the goalie on the Tabor Academy lacrosse team!

Samantha's goals going foward in life are high as well. Samantha will be heading to George Washington University next year to study government and political science! Samantha plans to continue her officiating career and intends to someday take the field as a FIFA referee in the World Cup! We have no dobut of that!

Paul Ferri

Paul Ferri, 19, of Wakefield is this year's Young Male Referee of the Year for the MYSL.

Paul's rise to Young Male Referee of the Year has been nothing short of meteoric. Starting as a referee only three years ago Paul Ferri has moved forward quickly and has become one of our finest young stars!

With the help of the Wakefield referee program Paul embarked on his refereeing career in 2003. Paul worked hard doing games in Wakefield, but desired to get out of town and do much more. Paul found his way into the Commissioner's Cup tournament in 2004 after having done only one or two U12 matches. Paul's performance and dedication at the Commissoner's Cup in 2004 moved Paul into a prominent role at the tournament that year. Paul did a record 12 games over the course of that weekend and this hard work earned him the 2004 Young Male Referee of the Tournament award and an invite that year to the MTOC.

As a result of his performance at the Commissioner's Cup Paul went on to the MTOC in 2004 and impressed the assignors and assessors there so much that he was appointed to officiate duirng the semi-final round in his very first outing at the tournament! An outstanding achievement!

In 2005 Paul would not only return to the MTOC but he would also move on to be appointed to the State Cup tournament and District Select Tournament as well.

Off the field, Paul is an academic star. As a member of the National Honor Society, Paul graduated from Malden Catholic with a 3.54 GPA and walked out of his first semester in college with a GPA of 3.92! Paul is pursuing a course of study that would lead to a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and he further hopes to achieve a Master's degree in Product Development.

In his spare time Paul is a Basketball referee, enjoys doing community service, is a self proclaimed "tech geek", enjoys video games, and is a big fan of the show "24"!

Paul plans to continue his referee career through college and hopes to move toward getting an upgrade to grade 7 in the next couple of years. About refereeing, Paul is enthusiastic, "Refereeing so far has been the best thing I have ever been a part of. I've met some of the best people and have had some of the best times."