SOCCER
COORDINATOR: JOHN VAN DE VAARST
jvandevaarst@referee.com
RULES, MECHANICS, TECHNIQUES
MIND OVER MATTER Mental Prep — Not Just Physical Fitness — Required for Top Performance
By Marc Block
W
hile it would be improper to call a foul or punish a misconduct before it actually happened, there are many things referees can do to proactively manage a situation and be better prepared when they are required to reactively deal with a variety of events in a match.
Janette Schwark, Woodinville, Wash., is on her way to her next assignment, but before Schwark takes the field, she’ll need to flush the previous game from her memory to approach the next match with a fresh slate.
50 | REFEREE October 2021
Prior to the match What part of the season is it? Early — Players, especially youth, may not yet be match-fit, leading to more substitutions and more reckless-type fouls as they fatigue. The teams may not have yet “gelled” so the cohesive passing and building up of an attack may not be there. Teams have not yet seen each other, so there is less history between them. What does this mean to the referee? If the players don’t know what is happening next, how can the referee? The referee must keep his or her head on a swivel and expect the
DALE GARVEY
Prepare, Perform, Reflect We’ve heard this mantra from U.S. Soccer, but for most referees, the focus has been predominantly on perform. Lost in that focus is prepare — how “proper prior preparation prevents poor performance.” Though preparation begins well before the first whistle, it does not stop once the match begins. Rather, preparation and performance continue as an iterative cycle throughout the match, and arguably preparation begins anew prior to proper reflection, too. Leaving the physical aspects of preparation (i.e., fitness, warming up, stretching, etc.) to the experts to explain, this article will focus on the mental aspect of preparation: anticipation.
