You show your real qualities when the coach is not watching

“You show your real qualities when the coach is not watching”, says Bjorn Kuipers. It’s easy to put some extra effort in the training sessions when your coach is near the sidelines, but that is not enough.

It’s actually the easiest thing to show-off. His impression is good. You run. Train hard. Impress him. Your coach thinks you’re doing a good job, but he only sees what you do there.

If you have a good character, you show your real qualities also when your coach is not watching. Back home, on rainy days, when others go to parties. That are the moments that will make or break you. In a refereeing career you need to constantly improve, try to get better, work hard.

Björn Kuipers compares it with his work as owner of a supermarket. “At this moment I give a speech for you, so I’m not at my store”, he says. “I hope my employees work extra hard now I am not there.”

That’s when you can make a real difference.
Adjust your schedule

It’s also what Hilco de Boer, physical trainer of the Dutch pro referees says to me. He makes training schedules for every referee. These are a good guidance for referees, but a referee is not obliged to follow them to the letter. “If a referee experienced lack of sleep, then he should be able to adjust his schedule a bit.” A bit, indeed. You can’t ignore the schedules completely. (Read more about the importance of physical training for referees)

A good questions for yourself: how often do you train for yourself and is that according to the plan you discussed with your coach? If you create a habit for yourself, it will go much easier. Go for it and show your real qualities when the coach is not watching.

Good luck with your referee career.

Previous tips from Kuipers

• Why you always need a card wallet as referee
• Always communicate as refereeing team
• Challenge yourself at different levels
• A big referee appointment doesn’t mean you’re there yet
• Build trust with your refereeing team members
• Take maximum control as referee
• Don’t judge your AR’s on first impression