With a renewed vision and a mission to help celebrate the successes of the referee community, REFdiaries supersedes Xcel Officiating in 2022. The former mentoring program started by Alika in 2019 will continue to help many referees excel in their officiating careers under the new brand. But with the dozens of mentoring programs already out there, Alika wanted to do something unique in his pursuit to help other referees.

​

"If you look at the multiple group pages on Facebook dedicated to helping other officials, you'll probably notice a common thread of referees bashing other referees based on their opinion of certain calls, positioning, etc. It was disheartening to see the amount of division amongst our own community - as if we don't get enough criticism from the fans, coaches and players that have plagued our line of work, and thus created shortages worldwide. So it is my heart, now, to create a space and a platform where we can set aside our opinions and celebrate the successes of our fellow referees."

​

So how exactly does REFdiaries work?

All of us are at different walks in our referee journeys, and all of us have taken different paths to get to the level we're currently