Visualise game situations as match preparation
It’s not over yet with tips I got from the referee conference. I will share a longer blog post with rugby referee Alain Rolland’s story later. Now you’ll get one tip you will benefit from every game. Rolland’s advice: visualise game situations as match preparation.
“Some referees look so comfortably because they know what they’re doing”, Rolland says. And to be able to “read the game” a referee “needs to visualise game situations”, Rolland says. “Think about what to say during a match and how to say it.”
How is the Irish World Cup final referee doing that? He’s sitting “comfy on his sofa with no disturbances. Then I spend 20-25 minutes by thinking what you will say in certain situations. I’m exhausted after that period. I am forcing myself to think about what I need for that. This match preparation works for me.”
Please try it and share your experiences with me!
Do you have any specific technique or training that helps in your match preparation?
20 Comments
John
Imagery is a very good technique, and surprised so few people actually use it. I’ve been using it all of my refereeing career and it works for me, also very useful in every day life too. It’s so simple and so effective, can be made even more effective by having crowd sounds playing at the same time as you use it, even just being in the same place or looking at a picture of the ground can help too.
jan (administrator)
Thanks for the comment, John. It’s a very useful way of imagining how you would react in certain situations. How often do you do this?
John
It can help you deal with situations you’ve never been in before, which is very useful when you’re on the field.
I use it a couple of nights before the game, but for some big games I’ll start even earlier. For example, I’ve got a big game on the 14th and I’ve started using imagery already.
In sone cases, it can be more beneficial than an actual workout!
jan (administrator)
How much time do you spent on it? Great to take your time for this technique.
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