WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PRACTICE

Running - for sure.

Did You Know? - A referee covers between 6 - 12 kilometres during a game depending on the level of the competition.

Fact - Research carried out at Liverpool University in 1993 on 11 Football League Referees and 3 Contributory League Referees showed that they:

Covered 9-10km during the match

Had an average heart rate of 165 beats per minute

Spent the major percentage of the time with heart rates above 85% of their maximum

Varied their movements around the field to include 50% jogging, 20% walking, 20% reverse running and 10% sprinting.

Tip - This is valuable information and should be used to help you devise your training programmes.

(i) DISTANCE

There is nothing wrong with going for a run, but it is of little use if you do not run very far.

Tip - If you are expected to cover between 6 & l2 kilometres during a game then you should practice covering those distances during training.

(ii) INTENSITY

You are told that your heart rate is likely to rise to about 165 beats per minute and that for the major part of the game you will be working near to 85% of your maximum heart rate. To get benefit from this information you need to understand something about heart rates. What is your maximum heart rate, for example? Will your heart be able to cope with 165 beats per minute?

Fact - It is generally accepted that a person's maximum heart rate is equivalent to the formula 220 - Age = Maximum Heart Rate. So a young, healthy 20 year old referee could expect to have a maximum heart rate of 200 beats per minute. If this referee had a heart rate of 165 beats per minute during a game, then that would correspond to 82.5% of the maximum heart rate

As you can see, a 55 year old referee working at 165 beats per minute would be working at or near the predicted maximum, (220 - 55 = 165). The body would not be able to maintain this level for the duration of the game and so our referee would have to slow down to allow the heart rate to drop. Having said that, a referee who has trained hard over the years would have been able to slow down the rate of normal decline and even at the age of 55 years could still record a maximum heart rate well above the predicted value.

Thought - This may help to explain why some older referees are still fit enough to continue performing at the top.

Advice - During training you need to practice raising your heart rate to the level it is likely to go during a game. Jogging along slowly and steadily for 8 kilometres may cover an appropriate distance but not at the right intensity. You need to check your heart rate has increased to near match level by stopping every now and again to take your pulse. During training you should aim to increase your heart rate to between 70% and 90% of your maximum. (See Heart Rate as a Guide to Work Rate chart below). If your heart rate is below 70% you are not running hard enough but if it is over 90% you should ease off a little.

(iii) VARIATION

Refereeing is not just about running up and down. During a game you would be expected to move in a variety of ways including jogging, fast running, sprinting, side-ways running, running backwards, walking and even standing still. If that is what is required then surely you must practice these movements.

Tip - Running is a good basic stamina builder but you need to include the other movements so your body gets used to it.

Fact - Your heart is a muscle and its function is to pump blood around your body. Blood is the transport system for your body and carries the fuel and nutrients your body requires. Your heart is approximately the size of a clenched fist and weighs about 300g. It also holds about 70ml of blood (4.5 tablespoons) or about 1ml for every kilogram of your body weight. At rest your heart rate averages about 72 beats per minute so the amount of blood being pumped around your body each minute is 70 x 72 = 5 litres.

YOUR HEART BEATS FASTER AND YOUR PULSE FEELS STRONGER

Fact - During moderate exercise, such as steady running during a game, your heart will respond to the increased demands for resources by slightly enlarging, thus allowing more blood to enter your heart, and by increasing the number of beats per minute. This allows more blood to be pumped around your body i.e. 80 x 130 = 10.4 litres. As the intensity of your exercise increases e.g. you have to sprint, heart rate increases still further so more blood can be circulated e.g. 80 x 170 = 13.6 litres.

Reason - Your body is asking for deliveries to be increased to meet the new demands. With nearly three times the volume of blood flowing around your body it cannot be surprising that awareness of your pulse beating is also enhanced. Because of the greater volume and the increase in the speed at which your blood is flowing, your heart would have to pump harder, and your blood vessels expand, to meet the demand. Your heart is beating more strongly so you feel the blood pulsating.

Thought - An Olympic athlete can reach a level of 40 litres per minute!

HEART RATE AS A GUIDE TO WORK RATE

AGE	MAX HEARTRATE PER MINUTE	70% MAX	90% MAX
20	200	140	180
25	195	136	175
30	190	133	171
35	185	129	166
40	180	126	162
45	175	122	157
50	170	120	155
55	165	115	150
60	160	110	145
65+ Hmmm should of retired by now!!!	150	100	140

THE IMPORTANCE OF WARMING UP

Warming your body up is an essential part of pre-match preparation and training as it prepares your body for action and improves your performance.

Thought - The first minute is as important as the ninetieth minute.

Warming up will:

· Gradually increase your heart rate
· Increase the flexibility of your muscles, tendons and ligaments.
· Improve speed
· Promote faster reactions
· Increase range of movement
· Reduce risk of injury

There are three phases to warming up.

1. GENERAL WARM UP

The warm up should begin with exercises involving your whole body, and should last for about 5-10 minutes, depending on the temperature. The aim of this phase is to:

· Raise the temperature of your body
· Raise the temperature of your muscles
· Increase the amount of blood flowing to your muscles.

Start off with light jogging (e.g. 2 or 3 slow laps of the pitch) and include some skipping, backwards and sideways running and some arm circling to warm your upper body.

Tip - You should be sweating lightly at the end of this phase and your pulse rate should have risen to about 120 beats per minute before moving onto the next phase.

2. STRETCHING

You should stretch those parts of your body that will be used during your match or training session.

Advice - Hold each stretch for 10 seconds at the point of slight discomfort relax - then repeat 2 or 3 times.

Warning - Never stretch cold muscles. DON'T BOUNCE.

Include the following stretches in your warm up.

i) ACHILLES STRETCH
ii) CALF STRETCH
iii) QUADRICEPS STRETCH
iv) HAMSTRING STRETCH
v) GROIN STRETCH
vi) SIDE STRETCH
vii) SHOULDER & TRUNK STRETCH

3. SPECIFIC WARM UP

In this phase, which should last for about 5 minutes, the aim is to get ready for the task ahead by performing exercises that are directly related to the effort to be made, be it a match, training, or taking a test.

You should include:

· Bursts of shorter, faster runs (i.e. Running at match speed
· Twists and changes in direction
· Short sprints

Tip - At the end of a warm up you should feel warm rather than hot and be slightly out of breath.

If your warm up is in preparation for a match you should aim to complete warming up 10 to 15 minutes prior to the start of the game. Return to the dressing room and keep warm.

If you are warming up to train then off you go.

THEORY v REALITY

All this is fine for those of you refereeing in higher levels of football where there are facilities and the opportunity to warm up properly. But what about local football? What if you do not have a dressing room to return to, or if you do, it is a bus ride away?

Thought:

· Warming up is important at all levels.
· The first minute is as important as the ninetieth in all games.
· Injuries can occur in any match.

Advice:

· Before putting on your boots, run on the spot for 2-3 minutes varying your pace every now and again.
· Perform the stretching exercises.
. Put your boots on, and run onto the centre of the field of play.
· Run to one of the goals to check the nets and then run to the other end including changes in speed and direction as you go.
· Check the nets and run back to the centre circle.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WARM DOWN

The "Warm Down" is very much neglected, but it is just as important as the "Warm Up" and should be performed after every training session and match.

Fact - The "Warm Down" is aimed at gradually returning the body to its resting state.

Advice - At the very least, on returning to the dressing room or on the completion of your training, you should repeat the stretching exercises performed as part of the warm up. This helps to prevent muscle stiffness and the onset of muscle soreness that can follow a particularly hard match or training session.

STANDARD FITNESS PROGRAMME

This programme is aimed at those of you who wish to maintain a level of fitness suitable for officiating in local football.

Training Sessions

A

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
30 minutes steady paced run at conversational pace
5-10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

B

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
10 minutes fast paced running (you should be running at a pace where you cannot maintain a conversation and you should feel "puffed" at the end of this run)
5-10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

When you can comfortably run for 20-30 minutes you can begin to include some referee specific training together with some interval training, which is ideal for you as it mimics the demands of refereeing. Interval training stimulates the heart, lungs and muscles and builds up your endurance and recovery level of your body.

Examples of some interval training sessions are included below.

C

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
Interval Training
· Walk 50 metres (width of a football pitch)
· Jog 70 metres, sprint 10 metres, jog 20 metres (length of a football pitch)
· Walk the width of the pitch
· Jog 70 metres, sprint 10 metres, jog 20 metres
· Repeat 10 x laps
5-10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

D

This session involves running 4 miles in total
5 minutes general body warm up
Stretching
Run the first half mile as a steady jog as a further warm up
The next 3 miles should be run slightly quicker and should include 10 bursts of mixed distances - 30 metres, 200 metres, 50 metres, 30 metres, 150 metres etc. - sprinting the shorter distances and fast running the longer distances
The last half mile acts as a slow jog warm down
Stretching
This session can be performed around a football pitch or park, over countryside or along the street using lamp posts as distance guides for the sprints and faster runs.

E

This session needs to be performed around a 50 metre square (i.e. half a football pitch).
Jog 3 laps to warm up
Stretching
Jog one 50 metre length - rest for 6 seconds
Run backwards for 20 metres, turn and sprint 10 metres, slow down to a walk during the next 20 metres
Jog 50 metres - rest for 6 seconds
Run backwards for 20 metres, turn and sprint 10 metres, slow down to a walk during the next 20 metres
Repeat for 10 laps
Jog 3 laps to warm down
Stretching

Advice - Aim for 3 sessions a week - refereeing a match would count as one session, but always try and include at least one training session even if you are refereeing more than one game during the week.

Tip - Vary your type of training by choosing a "running" based session on one occasion and an "interval" type session on another.

INTERMEDIATE FITNESS PROGRAMME

This programme is aimed at all officials wishing to gain promotion and/or referee up to and including Supply League level.

Training Sessions

A

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
20 minutes fast paced running (you should be running at a pace where you cannot maintain a conversation and you should feel fatigued at the end of this run)
5-10 minutes to warm down
Stretching

B

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
30 minutes steady run at conversational pace, to include 10 bursts of short fast sprints over distances from 10 to 50 metres, and 5 bursts of fast running over distances from 150-250 metres
5-10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

C

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
3 minutes hard running - but at a pace you can maintain for 3 minutes
3 minutes slow jogging
Repeat hard running and slow jogging 3 times but on the last time slow jog for 5-10 minutes to warm down
Stretching

D

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
60 seconds burst (80% max. speed) followed by 60 seconds jogging
30 seconds burst (90% max. speed) followed by 90 seconds jogging
10 seconds burst at full sprinting speed. followed by 50 seconds jogging
Repeat this sequence twice
10 minutes jogging
Stretching

E

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
Interval Training - Run these distances as fast as you can
· 50 metres (20 seconds rest)
· 100 metres (30 seconds rest)
· 150 metres (40 seconds rest)
· 200 metres (60 seconds rest)
· 150 metres (40 seconds rest)
· 100 metres (30 seconds rest)
· 50 metres (20 seconds rest)
· 5 minutes slow jogging
Repeat sequence
Stretching

F

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
Sprinting
· 10 metres sprint, slow down to walk 10 metres,
· 20 metres sprint, walk slowly back to your starting point
· Repeat x 10
5-10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

G

Use session E from the standard fitness programme but repeat for 15 laps.

Advice - Aim for 3 sessions a week - refereeing a match would count as one session, but always try and include at least one training session even if you are refereeing more than one game during the week.

Tip - Vary your type of training by choosing a "running" based session on one occasion and an "interval / sprint" type session on another.

ADVANCED FITNESS PROGRAMME

This programme is aimed at all referees officiating in senior football, from Contributory League level upwards.

Training Sessions

A

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
30 minutes fast paced running (you should be running at a pace where you cannot maintain a conversation and you should feel fatigued at the end of this run)
5-10 minutes to warm down
Stretching

B

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
30-40 minutes steady run at conversational pace, to include 12 bursts of short fast sprints over distances from 10 to 50 metres, and 6 bursts of fast running over distances from 150-250 metres
5-10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

C

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
4 x 60 seconds running at a fairly fast pace with 200 metres jogging between each effort
3 minutes jogging
Repeat 4 x 60 seconds running
10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

Note: the 60 seconds of running can include turns and changes in direction

D

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
4 x 5 minutes fairly hard running with 3 minutes jogging between each run
10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

Note: the 5 minutes of running can include turns and changes in direction

E

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
Sprint Training -
· sprints at 70% - 80% of maximum pace
· 10 seconds running
· 15 seconds rest / recovery
· Repeat x 6
. Rest for 2 minutes
· Repeat procedure x 6(36 sprints in total)
10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

F

5-10 minutes jogging to warm up
Stretching
Sprints - Maximum Pace -
· sprint 10 metres - walk back to start
· sprint 20 metres - walk back to start
· sprint 30 metres - walk back to start
· sprint 40 metres - walk back to start
· sprint 30 metres - walk back to start
· sprint 20 metres - walk back to start
· sprint 10 metres - walk back to start
· REPEAT WHOLE SEQUENCE
10 minutes jogging to warm down
Stretching

Advice - Aim for 3 sessions a week - refereeing a match would count as one session, but always try and include at least one training session even if you are refereeing more than one game during the week.

Tip - Vary your type of training by choosing a "running" based session on one occasion and an "interval / sprint" type session on another.

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