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You are in Referee Help >> Why do we Need to Keep Fit?
This was published by Tom Metcalfe in Bexleyheath & Welling's Newsletter for September 2003.
Why
do we need to keep fit?
So often the comment
is made to me by referees at the local level:
"Why should I waste my time with training sessions, when most of
the players I referee seldom train and I find I can normally keep up with
play?"
These referees must realise that fitness training is aimed as much at preventing
injury as preparing for officiating. Lack of fitness is one of the prime causes
of referee injury.
These injuries are seldom caused by contact with players, they are mainly
muscular injuries involving muscle pulls or ruptures in the thigh or lower
leg as well as the Achilles tendons. The pressure of running with quick turning
can also cause back injuries if your back and abdominal muscles are of poor
strength.
So it is important to ensure that you have got yourself to a reasonable level
of fitness before you commence the season's refereeing, or you could find
yourself out of the game early in the season, which does not assist the Leagues
you are operating on.
It is important
during the pre-season period that your carry out sufficient training and exercise
to acheive your correct body weight level, build up your leg and back muscles
to take the strain of refereeing and to build up your stamina level to allow
you to complete a match without becoming completely knackered. Trials have
shown that a referee often covers between 6 to 12 kilometres during
a match, according to the intensity of play etc.
So this means that during your training you should acheive at least a 9
kilometre run within your training programme as well as the exercises
to bring your muscles up to standard. The Football Association Guide to
Fitness for Referees gives a lot of good advice regarding warming up,
fitness training and warming down. Why not give it a good read, sort out a
programme that suits you, get a fellow referee to work with you and give it
a go?
I am sure that if you do, you will enjoy your refereeing more and be able
to carry out your refereeing duties with much more ease.
T. O. Metcalfe