176 Pages
    by Routledge

    176 Pages
    by Routledge

    Sports officials (umpires, referees, judges) play a vital role in every sport, and sports governing bodies, fans, and players now expect officials to maintain higher professional standards than ever before. In this ground-breaking book, a team of leading international sport scientists and top level officials have come together to examine, for the first time, the science and practice of officiating in sport, helping us to better understand the skills, techniques and physical requirements of successful refereeing.

    The book covers every key component of the official’s role, including:

    • Training and career development
    • Fitness and physical preparation
    • Visual processing
    • Judgement and decision-making
    • Communication and game management
    • Psychological demands and skills
    • Using technology
    • Performance evaluation
    • Researching and studying officials in sport

    Top-level officials or officiating managers contribute in the ‘Official’s Call’ sections, reflecting on their experiences in real in-game situations across a wide range of international sports, and on how a better understanding of science and technique can help improve professional practice. No other book has attempted to combine leading edge contemporary sport science with the realities of match officiating in this way, and therefore this book is vital reading for any advanced student of sport science, sport coaching or sport development, or any practising official or sports administrator looking to raise their professional standards.

    1. Introduction  2. Development of Officials  Official’s Call (Janie Frampton- former National Referee Manager, the Football Association (FA), England)  3. Physical Demands  Official’s Call (Bill Mildenhall, Referee Development Officer, Basketball Victoria and Victorian Basketball Referees Association, Australia)  4. Visual Perception  5. Judgment and Decision Making  Official’s Call (Ralf Brand, referee and member of Referee’s Advisory Board, Basketball Bundesliga (BEKO BBL), Germany)  6. Interaction and Game Management  Official’s Call (Wayne Barnes, International Rugby Board (IRB) referee, England)  7. Psychological Demands and Skills  Official’s Call (Marika Humphreys-Baranova, International Skating Union (ISU) judge, ISU trainer and examiner of Technical Specialists, England; Chris White, Rugby Football Union (RFU) Referee Academy Manager, England)  8. Technology  Official’s Call (Holger Albrecht, Federation International de Gymnastique (FIG) technical committee member for men’s artistic gymnastics, Germany; Graham Hughes, International Rugby Board (IRB) Television Match Official (TMO), England)  9. Selection, Training, and Evaluation of Performance  Official’s Call (Jacqui Jashari, International Netball Umpire; Umpire coach and mentor, Australia; Tony Parker, International Squash Official, England; Tom Lopes, Executive Director of International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO), USA) 10. Conclusion

    Biography

    Clare MacMahon, Duncan Mascarenhas, Henning Plessner, Alexandra Pizzera, Raôul Oudejans, Markus Raab

    "One of the outstanding strengths of the book is the ‘Official’s call’ at the end of each chapter, which brings up the officials’ voices from their own perspective and practice... Moreover, the book is well-written and comprehensible and gives a lot of new insights both for people with experiences from officiating and for researchers, students, coaches, leaders and others without personal experiences from refereeing... I warmly recommend this book for sport scientist, sport coaches, leaders, administrators and officials as well as for students in sport sciences, because it addresses an central area of sport studies that is definitely under researched."— Bente Ovèdie Skogvang, Hedmark University College, Norway, www.idrottsforum.org