“If he hadn’t called that, we wouldn’t have lost!” – a sentence most athletes utter in certain situations. Almost all of you have at some point blamed the referee for your defeat or the defeat of your team. However, what you must not allow is for the referee’s decisions to affect your performance.
The Referee – To Blame for the Defeat?
Let’s take a soccer match as an example. We can agree that the pressure before the very start of the match is present for both the soccer players and the referees. Everyone is here to do their job the best they can. As we know, concentration during a match is not always at its maximum level. That is why mistakes happen, both with players and with referees. Where the difference lies is the reaction to those mistakes. When a player makes a mistake, most teammates come up to him, pat him on the back, attribute it to a lack of luck, and move on. However, the referee is the one who is deemed not allowed to make a mistake and, if that happens, that mistake is certainly intentional. This creates additional pressure on the referee, raises their anxiety level, and increases the possibility of a new mistake. It can also lead to increased frustration and a shift in criteria to the opponent’s advantage. Referees must stick to their decisions and will rarely change them; therefore, your pressure on them and negative reactions will, in most cases, not lead to the outcome you would want.
Staying in the Zone
We have already talked about the importance of focus points. When you start thinking about the referee, they automatically become one of, or your only, focus point. By doing so, you lose the capacity to process information that is essential for your performance, and therefore it becomes worse. What the referee calls is not under your control, and you cannot change anything if you react negatively to their decisions. Remember that with your negative reaction, you only increase frustration for both the referee and yourself, bringing your performance to a lower level. In order to avoid excessive frustration and entering the red zone, there are some preventive techniques. One of the ways you can stop your bad reactions is to center on your focus points and maintain your attention on them. When the referee starts distracting you, say “STOP!” to yourself and bring back your focus using a keyword (e.g., ball) with which you will direct your attention to what needs to be in your focus at that moment. Also, it is good to use positive self-talk the entire time so that you do not reach the red zone.
Remember, anyone can have a “bad day” and an occasional slip-up. What you can control is yourself and your reactions; therefore, do not let the referee become your main focus point and control what you can, which is your emotions and reactions. Gold medals are most often won in the gold zone, so do not let the referee paint it red.
