---
title: 'Day in the Life of a 16-Year-Old Referee | $315/day'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=54VxRyEboPI'
video_id: '54VxRyEboPI'
date: 2026-07-23
duration_sec: 483
channel: 'Extra Landen Levine'
---

# Day in the Life of a 16-Year-Old Referee | $315/day

> Source: [Day in the Life of a 16-Year-Old Referee | $315/day](https://youtube.com/watch?v=54VxRyEboPI)

## Summary

A 16-year-old soccer referee documents a grueling 11-hour workday, earning $315 while dealing with physical pain, difficult teams, and the realities of officiating youth sports. The video also includes personal moments like attempting a backflip and reflecting on content creation.

### Key Points

- **Worst game and red card** [00:02] — The referee describes a particularly bad game where he issued a red card, calling it the worst game he's had to referee in a while.
- **Starting the day sick and in a hurry** [00:30] — He wakes up feeling sick and rushes to his first game, noting he's supposed to be there 15 minutes early but is running late.
- **Pay for the day: $315** [00:44] — He mentions he'll be paid $315 for the 11-hour day, which is more than usual.
- **Old shoes causing pain** [00:57] — He has been wearing the same referee shoes for 2 years, causing significant pain while running. He orders new ones.
- **Two-person referee crew** [01:11] — Normally three referees per game, but today only two, so they cover the whole field with whistles.
- **Paycheck from two weeks** [01:50] — He shows a paycheck of $360 for two weeks of refereeing, noting it's less than expected but not bad for two days of work.
- **Switching to sideline referee** [02:18] — He switches from center to sideline referee (AR), using a flag to indicate out-of-bounds and offside calls.
- **Free food from snack shack** [02:30] — The league provides free food for referees, so he gets a burger.
- **Legs dead after two games** [02:44] — After two games, his legs are very tired, but he's already earned $100.
- **Explaining offside signal** [02:58] — He demonstrates the offside signal and notes that most complaining parents don't understand offside rules.
- **Dreading a tough team** [03:27] — His manager warns about a team with poor sportsmanship that previously won 14-1, making him anxious.
- **Hope for cancellation** [03:41] — One team hasn't shown up; if the game is cancelled, he still gets paid and gets a break.
- **Allergies and early end** [03:54] — His allergies are severe, and he gets to go home early when the opposing team doesn't show, still getting paid.
- **Hourly wage calculation** [04:09] — He calculates his hourly wage at about $27 per hour, plus free food and drinks.
- **Average game as AR** [04:39] — He referees a girls' game as AR, which is easier because they complain less.
- **Worst team vs best team** [04:51] — The next game is between the best and worst teams in the league, leading to a difficult experience.
- **Center referee alone** [05:05] — He serves as center referee with two side referees, dealing with players who misbehave and a parent who brings a rulebook.
- **Long day in pain** [05:31] — He worked from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM in pain, wearing Perkins stocks (likely a brand of shoes).
- **Attempting a backflip** [05:46] — After work, he attempts a backflip on flat ground, succeeding after a failed earlier try.
- **Ice cream instead of dinner** [06:27] — He gets ice cream with friends instead of a meal because he arrived late.
- **Content creation focus** [06:55] — He explains he's been focusing on short-form content for TikTok/YouTube, with one video getting over 50k views.
- **School limits long-form videos** [07:10] — School composition classes are the main reason he doesn't post more long-form videos.
- **Falling asleep after work** [07:25] — He fell asleep after hanging out with friends, which is why there's no second part of the video.
- **How to become a referee** [07:38] — He advises interested viewers to approach referees at games to ask how to get started, as every league is different.

### Conclusion

The video captures a physically demanding day of refereeing youth soccer, highlighting the pay, challenges, and personal moments of a 16-year-old. It also touches on content creation and the balance with school.

## Transcript

that was the worst game I've had to wre in a while so I got a red card today was in a while so I got a red card today was a pretty crazy day but it all started
here [Music] morning but I was feeling pretty sick and I was in a hurry so here's what I a long day today 11 hours and I'm going to be getting paid
[Music] $315 I'm supposed to be there 15 minutes early and I was supposed to be there about 5 minutes ago my game starts in 10 hopefully it'll be all right all right I made it safe don't worry all right so
I've been wearing these for 2 years and they hurt really bad to run in I ordered let's see how these go so I can't really film while reing but I'll explain what I reing a game and I thought it would be a cool shot to give you a yellow card but
I didn't even get it in frame and after only half of a game my feet hurt so bad normally for a soccer game there are three referees one in the Middle with a flags I'll tell you more about your job at each throughout the day as I rotate
reing are only with one other person so there's two of us we are d dial from screen will show you what each of us are in charge of and since I have a whistle this game here's what it sounds like so there's two of us with whistles and
we're in charge of the whole field all right so it's currently 9:55 a.m. almost 10 my next game's at 10:15 so I have like 20 minutes break I
actually got a paycheck I'm not going to show you the other side and I'm also not much money it is yet today I'm making 300 but that's more than normal so this is going to be from from 2 weeks of raing so from 2 weeks of raing I made oh
$360 that's actually a little bit less than I thought it would be it's not bad though for 2 days of work last weekend I made2 200 but today alone I'm going to pay check all right I should probably go start this game I switched from my red
reing is red and I don't want any confusion in this game I was sideline reing so I have a flag saying whose ball it is when it goes out of bounds and priorities after that game I was pretty hungry so I went to go to The Snack
Shack to get a burger cuz my league gives us referees free
food all right so the game I'm supposed to be reing starts in about 15 minutes I'm reing with he had to go like feed a dog that he was housesitting for my legs are pretty dead only two games in but that's $100 real quick it's um 11:47
almost 12 yeah I guess that's and again this game I was AR aka the assistant here's a signal I do when there's an offsides call to explain it really past the ball while they're behind the other team's Defenders and almost every
parent that complains about the calls we make has no clue what offsides even is reing for a while my leg start to ache really bad halfway there good thing and a Bad Thing halfway done but that went by really slowly so my boss or whatever
manager told us to get cards cuz apparently the team we're going to ref sportsmanship I remember reing them last week they beat a team 14 to1 they just not looking forward to that I'm tired and these allergies are killing me all
can see this team's here but this team is not if it gets cancelled I still get paid and I get a break so this going to be awesome hopefully they don't show
just going to head home my allergies are so bad I need to get like a tissue and allergy medicine it was really going to suck having to work 11 hours with no breaks let me just talk about how much you get paid real quick so I am working
about 11 hours today and I'm getting paid $300 so that's it was like 27 something per hour so that's not bad plus free food plus free drinks this happening where I get to go home and still get paid but anyways I'll see
and still get paid but anyways I'll see you guys when I'm worse now but I have another $100 that
was a pretty average game I was AR so I went pretty good it was a girls game so it's normally a little bit less rough and a bit easier to ref cuz they don't complain as much but I was not prepared
for the next game it was the best team in the league versus the team with the in the league versus the team with the worst
was the first game I was like actually Center ref by myself so there was two side refs and then me as Center it was bad the whole game even before the game in like have them stand on line knocking their shin guards all that type of stuff
would come up to me and just like say like old memes just I don't even know like one of them was just looking at me one of the one that was annoying and my lady brought a rule book of our league and we trying to tell us our rules were
kind of wrong too but it was like a like a gray area but my legs are killing me I did the entire day in Perkin stocks from 8:30 to 7:00 I'm ready to go 8:30 to 7:00 I'm ready to go [Music]
things the first thing I might do if I have enough energy is go hang out with stores got that monkey and then went to the park most of my friends have been did one off this rock and have been practicing doing them in the water and I
the first time the other day but when I tried it on flat ground earlier in the video as you could see it did not go very well but I decided to try again very well but I decided to try again ready you going yeah go you
rolling and that was my first ever back flip on flat ground three two 1 with my Burks on that was easy so I guess I could do a
to get the have a Scot meal you already know what I'm here late so we just got ice cream instead can I get one ice cream come please
can I get one ice cream come please three wait can I get three what are you rest of night we just kind of drove around and after rapping if I don't hang
video for Tik Tok or YouTube and judging by the fact that I I haven't uploaded in lot it's because I was mostly focused on making shorts that would get like a few I finally saw some success and got one with over 50k views I'm deciding to
the main thing stopping me from posting more long form videos is school because Composition but back to the point of the video if I don't hang out with friends home laid down didn't get up for a few hours and ended up falling asleep which
video and that's why I don't have a second part of the video cuz I was too and when I mention that you get pretty good pay for reing I get a lot of so here's how I would do it if you're interested every league is different so
where the game is played and when the game is over just go up to the referees need to do and now that I got this video to 8 minutes I could get mid roll ads so this video then I'd appreciate it if you dropped a like and if you like content
dropped a sub and if you want to know how I made $123 in an hour then you can watch this video right here