One of the most important things a soccer referee should do is to prepare well for each match. If an officer doesn’t prepare, his crewmates will notice. If the officer prepares hard, his crewmates will notice too. As an officer, when you show up to the game, you have to be prepared. There are several important steps football officials need to take to ensure they are game ready.
1. Look at the images of your game from the previous week.
If there is any way for you, as an official, to get your hands on a tape of his latest game, take advantage of it! There is no better way to improve as a referee than to look at yourself and see first hand what mistakes you are making. Pay attention to the signals you give and make sure they are of high quality. Also, pay attention to your position on plays. Where you are on each playthrough can make a big difference in what you can see. If you are doing something wrong, identify it and think about how to solve the problem, and finally practice the right way.
2. Review what you need.
Every football official, no matter the level, always comes across something in the game that they want to check out or read more about. In many cases, it is something like taking a penalty on a rare play. Try to remember what these things are and spend time throughout the week researching and reading about that type of game. Useful books for this are the casebook attached to the rule book and the Redding study guide.
3. Scout teams.
To be prepared for the game, you need to have an idea of how the game will play out. To know this, you need to explore the teams that play. Ideally, you can do this by watching a team movie or reading quantitative statistics online. Look at things like the win-loss record and the percentage of plays like runs and passes. Observing these things can help you know that the team likes to throw a ball deep, so the deep wing umpires, the field judge and the side judge, can start a few yards deeper to try not to get beaten. . It is also possible that you can tell if the game will be closed or blowout. It’s also not a walk in the park for officials because in a blowout, teams can become very agitated and bring out a lot of flags. However, a close game can have coaches breathing down your neck and extra pressure added.
Other steps on how to prepare each week will include things like preparing the uniform, making sure you are in good physical condition, and confirming the crew for each game.