aBOUT US

Why We Exist

The problem in youth soccer isn't how many referees there are. It's how few stay long enough to gain real experience. With only about 60% of Minnesota officials returning each year, nearly half the referee population is brand-new every season.

Most get thrown into games with little support and quit before they hit their stride. We started The Referee Advocates because we've lived every side of this: as referees, club leaders, coaches, and parents.

TRA builds officials who stay and succeed. Our retention consistently exceeds 75%, giving clubs experienced referees who return season after season and raise the quality of every match.

We envision

A game day that's better for everyone, where players compete, coaches coach, families cheer, and referees thrive.

OUR VISION

OUR MISSION

We are on a mission

To build a stronger officiating community by developing, supporting, and thoughtfully assigning high-quality referees, elevating the game-day experience for clubs, players, coaches, and families across Minnesota.

Partner as a Club

We are Our Values

Community trust is the most important thing we'll ever earn, and we build our lasting relationships through our values.

When you take a step towards investing in referees, our work together will have lasting impact felt for years to come.

Integrity

We do what we say we'll do. Every game assignment honored, every referee supported, every promise kept. The youth soccer community has been let down before — that ends with us.

Collaboration

Referees, clubs, coaches, parents, players. None of us makes the game work alone. We build relationships across every part of the soccer ecosystem because that's the only way the system actually improves.

Excellence

Good enough isn't. We hold ourselves to professional standards in how we train, how we assign, and how we show up — and we expect the same from every referee who wears a TRA badge.

accountability

We own our outcomes. When something goes right, we share the credit. When something goes wrong, we don't make excuses. Referees, clubs, and parents can hold us to what we say — and we welcome it.

Meet the TRA Team

Led and founded by Daneen Goncalves, a former collegiate soccer player and local leader modernizing how youth soccer develops and assigns officials, our team brings decades of experience as referees, trainers, and club partners. We're building the system Minnesota soccer has been missing.