It's hard to 'sell the call' when you don't know what you are doing; hard to manage the game for players' safety and fair application of the LOTG if you don't know how to do what you are supposed to do.This is precisely where 2 mentor-supervised games deliver the training payload!

In most cases, mentors are deployed much like paramedics arriving on the scene of an accident .The accident caused by the absence of PRACTICE. It is a righteous expectation for new referees to count on those in charge of training to deliver more than theory... to deliver relevant hands-on training prior to officiating in the 'real deal,' regular season games.

We've all seen the utter frustration of coaches when players with the potential to score 'don't finish.' Well, here we are doing the same thing: we form a training contract with new officials & their parents...but 'don't finish' the job prior to the start of regular season games. We cut training short and start 'chasing the problem'(inexperienced new officials) with Mentors- in games that have a lot of meaning to players, parents and coaches AND- this bears repeating, a strong argument can be made that we are putting player safety at risk every time we insert new referees into games without having first practiced the skills to be used. We also jeopardize another major commitment by soccer officials, to apply the Laws of the Game evenly and fairly.

       
The game itself is pressuring us for better entry level training.
There is a noticeable trend with 'entry level' teams which deepens our understanding of the need for action: players are coming into the sport at higher skill levels and with a greater sense of how the game is played than ever before. Today's new players need & deserve better trained new referees.

We have the Good Example of Coaches To Follow
We should follow the full application of a formula that works well for coaches:
Practice Precedes Playing( you don't practice-you don't play!).
Coaches provide the consistency and predictability of training that is so necessary for any young learner. On the other hand, Referees are awarded a 'get out of jail' card to skip practice. Why do we do this? When asked why we continue to do this, upper level soccer administrators at local/State/National levels initially support the concept of practice but fall silent on taking action to bring it about. Our formula ought to be similar to that of the Coaches:
Practice Precedes Officiating.