Summer is here, yet amazingly the new season is not far away. The main point I would like to talk about in today’s article is – how can you spend the remaining time wisely so it is a benefit to you, as a referee.

Summer for referees can also mirror a player’s experience. In all honesty, I can easily state that summer is, in most cases, a thief for many people. It easily steals your time and then sneaks away leaving you feeling guilty of wasting time.

My international commitments help in a way (in this sense they are an asset) to keep me a bit focused even during summer as there are always some 2/3 appointments to referee and thus I do not have really a long off-season. However, my aim, in this article, is to be of help to the normal local fellow referee who must face some inactive weeks between seasons.

There are three primary areas that demand your attention in getting ready: the physical aspect, the mental aspect and the mechanical aspect.

The summer months may be a good time to get serious about the physical conditioning. There are, in the opinion of those who really understand a game, few things worse than running out of breath in the last minutes of a game because of lack of proper preparation.

If you have been inactive for a period of time, it is however not healthy to try to get ready all at once. If you have, in all probability due to feeling a bit lay off, gained weight, you need to phase in your preparation with a somewhat aggressive programme to lose some of the new excess weight and prepare your body for the running that is to come in the season.

Physical conditioning and even the general feel of the game can be aided if one can have the opportunity to referee any pick-up or pre-season games. These matches can be as important for the referee as they are for the players to play. After all, most of us referees need to run on the same field of play as the players do, even though we may be older!

Stretching is also important. First be sure to warm up properly as it is not safe to stretch a cold muscle.

Something that really annoys me is seeing fellow referees (and even athletes) training with light weights in their hands and on their wrists or ankles. This is a no-no. Although running/walking with weights will improve your calorie burn by some five per cent, this will increase the possibility of injury much more than that. There is no doubt that time spent on warming up and warming down will improve a referee's level of performance and accelerate the recovery process needed before training or officiating again.

Muscle stiffness is thought to be directly related to muscle injury and therefore the warm up should be aimed at reducing muscle stiffness.

Flexibility training – stretching – is an area that holds great potential for performance enhancement as well as accelerating recovery between games.

Unfortunately, most people do not reap the benefits from stretching because their technique is counterproductive. Stretching is definitely the most fastidious and particular thing to work on. If it is not done perfectly, at best you will remain the same, and often will even decrease flexibility.

More than 99 per cent of athletes most often overstretch and stretch across a contracted muscle. This in itself can decrease flexibility and lead to injury.

Every person should note that warming up prior to any type of physical activity does a number of beneficial things, but primarily its main purpose is to prepare the body and mind for more strenuous activity.

An effective warm up also has the effect of increasing both the heart rate and the respiratory rate. This increases blood flow, which in turn increases the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles.

Some years back, I was introduced to the concept of cross-training. This is a method I strongly recommend to anybody.

Basically cross-over training is much more than just doing something else. For example, if your footwork needs attention, you could try court sports, dancing and any agility drills. Aerobic exercise can aid those who are lacking flexibility. Another good idea is swimming. Whatever one does, it is highly important that it is enjoyable and relaxing.