Being in good physical shape when the season starts will help your confidence enormously. This holds also for us referees. From the outset, one can easily do some visualization and relaxation exercises to help him get mentally ready for each game. However, in order to try take his game to the highest possible levels, the referee has to work hard so as to reach his highest levels of mental toughness.
A game, be it football, basketball, waterpolo, is in reality an emotionally charged event. The players, coaches and spectators are often at a fever pitch and tension can be quite high at certain moments. In such an environment, all that emotion is, many times, swirling and spinning around us referees and we cannot(and should strive hard not to) let ourselves get caught up in it.
Very often we can almost physically feel a change in the momentum of a particular game. We almost see one team getting bigger, performance-wise, whilst the other diminishes slightly. Whereas momentum is important to players, coaches and spectators, it is highly dangerous foe referees as we have to maintain the same level of concentration and control throughout the whole game, regardless of the ebbs and flows which the teams may experience as time goes by. In order to avoid variations in our performance momentum, there is the need of adequate and serious mental preparation and toughness from the referee.
Fortunately, although many do not even realise such a potential trait, mental toughness is a transferable and assignable trait. It can definitely be learned through listening to the experience of other referees, through practice, persistence and also by thinking ahead.
One way to do that is to honestly start thinking about difficult situations you have experienced in the past that you have handled badly. It is already a great start that you, as a referee, admit that you were not totally right. Now the next thing to think about is an answer to how could you improve your performance next time you encounter such a situation.
As I stated above, one can also learn from other colleagues. What situations have you seen other referees in that you thought they handled either very well or very poorly? I think the majority of us know that we should emulate and imitate the good ones and, on the other hand, we should do our utmost not to make the mistakes of the poor performers. The referee can in fact learn from the successes and failures of others.
When you do a mistake (and all of us do and there will never be a referee that is perfect), it is important to recognize and acknowledge it immediately. Then think on how to prevent, maybe even in the same game itself, the same mistake from happening again. Next, and this is maybe the most important step and the most difficult for many to understand or to apply due to their personality, try hard to forgive yourself and move on with the game as if nothing happened.
As the referee’s career progresses, he will find that the games become easier because the players are better. I am not joking here but it is the stark truth. I believe, fellow colleagues from other sports who have reached a certain level can back me up on this. However this makes it necessary that the referee makes better decisions about what to call.
At lower levels, the referee has to make a great number of calls in order to get the games to progress smoothly. At higher levels the referee has to focus and concentrate hard on how actions affect the play. A part of mental toughness is getting comfortable with the new concepts and unfamiliar ideas of the new level of play.
Basically what I am trying to state is that in refereeing, each level introduces a new set of values and philosophies. It is important for a referee on his way up the refereeing ladder to learn these and adjust his game to them.
To conclude, I will use a text-book definition which is relevant in today’s article. Mental toughness is a results-oriented concept. The refereeing world is full of individuals looking for that short cut to the top. Yet the only real short cut is to pay your dues, work hard and produce good results. Refereeing, like playing the respective sport, is a performance activity. If your results are good enough, you will generally progress steadily, especially locally. If you do not progress, before blaming “politics” (although this is real and very present in certain cases, especially in the international field where many factors, apart from the real personal ability, play a major part in your eventual progress), try getting better.
The referee should work hard to bring, as much as possible, his game up to a higher level and the desired appointments will most probably arrive. This may not happen as quickly as you want, but it will happen.
By becoming mentally tough, you will still not be able to control the events that occur in the games or in your career. However, you will be able to deal with them calmly, effectively and with dignity.
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