How do you do a referee matchday primer session in the gym? On the Instagram of Martin Nugent Elite Performance I saw a nice exercise from English top referee Rebecca Welch. In this blog post you’ll get some great ideas to do a session the day before your game in the gym. If you want to do it on the pitch? Check the matchday -1 sessions from Werner Helsen.

How does referee Alan Kelly stay fit during the Covid 19 crisis? Alan Kelly talks about this on a webinar by Silbo, a company that automates sports officiating administration. The MLS referee has a daily morning routine – Covid 19 or not. He wears a Polar watch that measures his fitness and sleep. “First thing that we do every morning. I check my resting heart rate”, the former FIFA referee from Ireland says. “Then I answer 5 questions how I slept, how I feel. And I send it to the referee department and get a training programme each day.” Uploading training results Referee Alan Kelly is just back from an…

Playful fitness exercises for referees are always good to add something funny to a training session. And the idea is still: you’ll work on your physical ability. I explain the first exercise on my YouTube channel, where you’ll find more videos about refereeing. Below the video I’ll add the text as well. Example of playful fitness exercise Because everybody wants to have fun while training, I’ll try to create some video’s with playful fitness exercises for referees. This fitness exercises makes you alert, because you need to focus on your instructor. You sprint forward and the instructor shows a blue or yellow cone. Blue means: sprint to the left corner.…

A proper warm-up for referees is needed for both training sessions in games. It will improve your performance and reduces your risk of injury.  The blog post is based on lessons I followed as a referee and notes I took.  Physical effects of a warm-up The physical effects of a proper warm-up for referees are: Less stiffness in muscles and joints More activity in nerve system, which means a better coordination Better circulation of blood, so more oxygen to your muscles and you’ll easier get rid of (too many) lactic acids  Mental effects of a warm-up When you do a good warm-up: You’ll be better focused mentally (more tips to…

A training session at your own referee assocition, that’s awesome. And I don’t get one per week, but two. What does a training at the Hagues Referee Association (HSV in Dutch) look like? Check out our 1 hour session in the blog post below. Warm-up We started off with warm-up laps around our pitch for 8 minutes, followed by a dynamic warming-up. What we did is jog for 10 metres then an excercise, like lifting the knees or walking side-ways. Check out this story on how to do a proper warm-up. 3x a Steigerung of 50m After doing a proper warming-up we did a Steigerung. It’s a German word we…