Adrian Skeete wants to be world’s best referee. This year the 33-year-old from Barbados made his debut on the international Fifa referee list.
Dutch Referee Blog interviewed him. This is part 1, the rest will be published later this week.
Adrian Skeete Twitter picture
How did you become a referee?
“Football and sports – and my wife of course – have always been my love of my life. As a young child I had always envisioned becoming a Premier League football player, but I was never really good enough.”
“During a holiday in Barbados, I met my future wife at the age of sixteen and instantly fell in love with her, but we lost touch. By chance at twenty-one – five years – later, we met again, and we’ve never looked back. She convinced me that our future was in Barbados, my father’s place of birth, and we moved here four years later.”
“I never lost my love for football. And when I met one of the local referees, Winston Pinder, I found out that there was a referees course the next week. I jumped at the chance to get back in touch with another love of my life.”
On barbadosreferees.com you said your goal is become the best referee of the world. How are you going to achieve that?
“Whatever I do in life I try to be the best that I can. To become the best, you must learn from the best, immerse yourself in with individuals and tools that will help you achieve your goals.
For me, I make sure that my life is complete in three major areas: Physically, by training as hard as I can. Three times a week in the gym, three times a week on my refereeing techniques, of which twice a week with high intensity training.”
“Mentally, where the LOTG is my guide to greatness. It provides me with all I need to identify, interpret and apply the LOTG; knowing these laws will help me achieve my goals. Along with my laws I have several mentors who help me push towards my goals for greatness; Victor Moore (Referee Assessor), Trevor Taylor (Elite Concacaf Referee), Edwin Adams (Barbados Premier League Referee), Andrew Belgrave (Former FIFA AR, and FIFA Fitness Trainer) and my current president (Former FIFA Referee) Mark Forde.”
“Spiritually, by putting God first before all my games, praying for guidance, and to focus on the areas that I need to improve on. These three major areas are the keys to my success in becoming the best referee in the world.”