Training to Improve Mental Focus
In addition to chatting with my evaluator, coach, referee support group, the NH HC, and even my former coach last week. I also had the pleasure to speak with referee extraordinaire Gary Devoe. He had seen a post I left on the USA referees Facebook group and suggested we chat:
In addition to chatting about pre-match, as well as 10 other things, he had a simple yet amazing suggestion for practicing mental focus. I should break my training sessions up into parts of a match e.g. first 5 mins, 1st open field kick, last 20, etc. Have a checklist or aspect of the match that I need to visualize during each and think through each as I run my sprints. Not sure why I never thought of it but it’s simple, relevant, and brilliant. Thanks Gary!
Also worth noting the USA Rugby referee tracks are well worth downloading! I’ve listened to them a few times and the scrum one includes pre-match details…unfortunately they’re what I typically discuss with players which is apparently over kill at higher levels of play.
