Referees meeting up at Staverton Park
Would you believe it? We are a quarter of the way through the season already.
The leagues are beginning to take a familiar shape and for me the season has started to fall into a familiar pattern with every weekend travelling and a game, supplemented by a match most midweeks.
As a group of referees we meet up in a local hotel every two weeks [Staverton Park] for a three day ‘get together’.
This is where our manager, Keith Hackett, talks to us about all aspects of the game and current trends.
On a Wednesday we meet up for dinner and informal discussions.
Thursday is physical training in the morning taken by our sports scientist for one to two hours. Training will consist of warming up exercises and a high intensity session that nearly does for us all.
After lunch we may view videos of the previous weekend’s games with any contentious issues highlighted and if the referee is present he may be asked to explain his decision making!
Every month we have a sports psychologist talk to the group and if necessary individuals about keeping a positive mind and all sorts of thought processes....I don’t understand half of it, but I think he keeps me sane!
The evening is given over to relaxation and often we organise a social event, dog racing seems to be the favourite although last week we popped over to my local Indian for some ‘proper’ food.
On a Friday we train first thing, then discuss the weekend fixtures and highlight any potential issues. The afternoon will see the majority leave and travel to hotels pending Saturday games; for me I always pop home before leaving later in the evening for my game.
These three days certainly bring us together as a group and it helps foster best practices amongst us and helps improve the standard of refereeing.
As the season pans out, hopefully with the aid of these get togethers you’ll see an increase in standards of refereeing.
