You can't change the weather you get, but the other two things you can ameliorate, and you know that now. Best of persistence to you.
So this was a practice run you did to prepare for the official fitness test? You should be fine in a week--you know the rhythm of this particular exercise. Just make sure you're well rested and hydrated. A lot of the people who fail the fitness test the first time they do it fail because it is in fact the first time they do it.
Yep -- will do. Thanks guys. Hope to run it in cooler weather but will probably have a banana and water 30 minutes or so before the run and try again Tuesday/Wednesday after giving my body a one-day break.
I'll echo Dadman & El Rayo. One other recommendation is to focus your breathing early during the recovery walks. Even if it feels easy. Don't talk. Focus on deep breaths trying to get oxygen in the system (but don't overdo it and hyperventilate or anything). The more oxygen you can consume early on may keep your HR lower during the hardest part of the test (laps 6-8), which in turn makes the test feel easier even if you're at the exact same fitness level.
OK -- I did hear about that. I just didn't focus on that. But I will. Wouldn't the hardest parts of the test be laps 8-10? I will say that the 20 second walk per 25 meters .. I seem to walk too fast. Perhaps I need to slow down... I found myself a bit too early at the run gate and had to stopped a few times but I was able to time it just right after a while.
Absolutely! When the test for National was 150M x 20, my daughter and a local referee who was hoping to go to National were at the first national camp when it was administered. They had gone out and tried the test at a local high school before going to camp. For that camp, USSF had six referees in each test group. (i.e. no doubling up, etc.) In the first group of six, to take the test only one guy passed. The two of them both passed easily. She said it was very apparent who had run the test before and who had not.
For me, laps 9 & 10 are easier than the ones preceding it. The amount of runs left are in the single digits and the light is at the end of the tunnel. Psychologically I feel like I'm already at the end and can "tough it out" even if I go into oxygen debt. This is all anecdotal, but I've never seen a failure on the last two laps of the test. Muscle strains and cramps tend to happen between laps 3-5, and fitness/oxygen related failures tend to happen up until lap 8. Getting the walks correct requires practice. Ideally you want to get your run pacing down so you're decelerating through the transition window/zone as the whistle blows at the end of the run phase. I personally focus on deep recovery breathing up until the 10-second whistle during the walk and hardly focus on where I am walking. With 10 seconds to go I then keep my breathing steady while timing out the remainder of the walk. I try to get myself almost to the start cone for the running whistle so that I never have to completely stop and disrupt my momentum. Obviously do what works for you, but give some of these tips a shot when you practice this week!
Thank you. Perhaps I could have toughed it out but I knew it was a practice run so... and my body had never run it before... ergo.. those who run it the 1st time -- fail. So, let me get this straight -- during the walks you do deep breaths for the 1st 10 seconds and the last 10 seconds you breathe steadily. What about during the 75m run? Do you deep breathes as well? My plan is to wake up at and do the the test again tomorrow at 8:30 AM and I will eat a banana and some light snack bar 30 minutes before I run at 8:30 AM.
I'll add my 2 cents even though @AlextheRef pretty well nails most of my thoughts. If you can't pass the test in lane 3, you're putting your success in the luck of the draw. That is to say, if you have a bunch of people in your group that can just barely pass, the test can be a fight for inside lane at your desired pace. Lane 3 is about 82 meters on the turns instead of 75 meters and will burn you out much faster (personal experience). It is too late to train for that now, but keep that in mind that you don't want to volunteer for not running the inside. Chat up your group mates to see what their status is, "Have you been training?" "Did you run the test as practice?" "Have you run it before?" "How do you run it? eg I hit the second cone slightly before the whistle" The kind of answers will give you an idea of where you want to start in the group and if you will be leading running the middle, inside or outside etc. I find that running the real test is easier because they put cones out to mark where you should be at the 10 and 5 second warning beeps so if you lose focus and are slow to start, there will be a cone showing you're short of target
Interval run is super mental. If you are in shape, you can physically do it, but the mental challenge is immense and can crush you. It did for me the very first time. Block out what lap you are on and just do your technique over and over until the "holy crap! Lap 10!" and then you're home. I hate this test.
Would I be able to do the interval test in a more realistic game scenario for me? Like switching directions after every lap while throwing up my arms and resisting the urge to yell at the players asking them if they can put together 3 passes before losing possession so I can stop killing myself out there constantly having to sprint in the opposite direction? Or would they frown upon that
Instead of counting cumulative # of laps count up to halfway and then down from there. Mentally counting down feels better. Mentally for me in workouts (running, weight-lifting sets etc) that 65-70% of the set is my make-or-break. Getting to the 75% level I can grit through and make the finish.
A referee for sure should have a decent shape, but imho they give too much importance to the shape and to be perfectly fit. I often run the line for a local guy who is not an athlete or what you can call a fit referee, but his running mechanics and the way he moves and cut the field, anticipating the play are so good that is always on top of the play and he is probably 510/11 and 190 pounds not muscular.
I feel very similarly. It seems that play anticipation, positioning, and the physical angles you take when running are just as helpful as pure fitness. There are always the breakaways or bad changes of possession that refs get screwed on and will be behind even if they are Usain Bolt, but for pretty much regular game play I feel like good positioning and play anticipation can help mask physical limitations.
Signs the apocalypse is upon us . . . https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/us/california-soccer-player-dies-fight/index.html
Exactly, angles are the key. The only part of the game where a very fast referee makes the difference is when there is bad pass and the team goes on a fast counterattack, there speed is everything. Having strong ARs will help you on that, but if the ARs are average you are basically calling a game-change play from 50 yards or relying on a "nobody". That's the difference between working with PRO Ars or Amateur ARs.
Fast and fit aren’t the same thing. But I’d say that being fit gives a referee an advantage and being fast gives the referee an advantage. A fast referee can make positioning choices that a slow ref can’t, as the fast ref can recover. The fast referee can also sometimes move quickly enough to get that angle the slow ref can’t.. A fit referee doesn’t have to try to conserve as. Ugh energy and will be less fatigued in those end-game moments when critical decisions need to be made—and there is no doubt that fatigue hinders decision making (it is part of why we see players in all strenuous sports make brain dead decisions at the end of game: their brain/awareness is suboptimal from fatigue). That doesn’t make speed or fitness the be all and end all- there are other critical factors to reffing—but denying that they are important is a mistake. (And I would put fitness significantly above speed.) Whether the various physical test really measure the right things in terms of referee fitness is, of course, a completely different issue.
On the shelf for a few days with Covid, a week before my regional (I’m not looking to upgrade, but would like to pass that to do more USL2 lines and fourths) and college fitness tests. Ugh.
Sorry to hear that—I’m recovering myself. Hope you heal fast. (Unfortunately, I strained my back out of nothing while I was sick—according to Dr. google, back issues are known with Omicron. So if you’ve had back issues, be careful while you’re sick.)
My back has definitely been sore. That was one of the symptoms that made me realize something wasn’t quite right. My back and legs were really tired, and I haven’t trained a lot this week. Thanks for confirming my concerns.
More things that make me sad . . . Another referee assault 🚨Cobarde agresión a una mujer árbitro de un futbolista en el partido de reserva Independencia ante Garmense, correspondiente a la Liga de Tres Arroyos. *️⃣La víctima es Dalma Cortadi y el autor del hecho, Cristian Tirone. pic.twitter.com/a5wZT6QKLv— César Luis Merlo (@CLMerlo) July 31, 2022
We talk about referee assaults in America like it's bad but Mexico and Central and South America put us to shame.
English language article about the incident. The player has received a lifetime ban from his club. https://www.espn.com/soccer/argenti...stedgets-lifetime-ban-after-attack-on-referee
Got assigned a co-ed adult league game last night. I did a game for this league last week and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, meaning the soccer was actually pretty good. Last night was what I was expecting from a league like this. Meaning, a complete shitshow. Neither team showed up with more than 9 players. The field we were assigned was apparently never cleared by the league, so there was a youth soccer practice that they had to kick off the field. Only two of us show up (remarkably, this is a three man crew league). They ask if we can go to a nearby grass field so they can play 7v7 (we tell them we wouldn't ref it). Then, 10 minutes into the game, I have the field coordinator walking with me while I'm working the sideline yelling at me that they were approved to be on the field. On top of all of that, more than a few of the players were really snarky about our calls. Seriously, you can't field a full team and now you're going to criticize the refs? Game ends up 9-9. The only good part of the night was that with one ref not showing up, we split the total ref fees, so I made $85 for this garbage. And the field was 5 minutes from my house.