The referees and assistant referees were split up into three groups for the fitness test. Below is a picture of the assistant referees from CONCACAF, CAF, and AFC, after we had taken the fitness test and finished the cool down. Marlene and I were part of the second group and started warming up for the test at 9:15 am. As you can see from our faces, we are all very happy to be done with the test.
For the last two days we have been training from 9 am to 12 pm. The pitch is absolutely beautiful and is very close to the hotel. Each day we do fitness, core strengthening, practical application, and technical work. We are lucky at this tournament to have a youth soccer team to help with the practical and technical portion of the training. This means that the referees no longer have to foul each other in simulated situations to provide training for our colleagues. This is much better as it reduces the chances that the referees will get hurt during the training and it is also good that these U16 boys can run forever and not get tired.
As you can see from the photo, the training field is surrounded by trees. It is quite lovely and is really nice as we do have some partial shade for the training and had one lap in the shade during the fitness test during the interval portion. We also ran the 40 meter sprints in the shade.
All the fitness activities including the fitness test and matches are done with a heart rate monitor. The fitness instructors keep a close tab on how hard we work and see how our heart recovers during the high intensity sessions. So, as you can see below the first thing we do upon arrival to the training field is pick up our assigned heart rate monitor.
Tonight we have a formal dinner with our brand new FIFA suits. The dinner is formal welcoming to the tournament.
Hey VP, thanks for all the cool pics so far, happy to hear about the fittness portion...Congrats to all of you. I mentioned the blog to the Sac people....so hopefully they will show sum luv soon.
ReplyDeleteMy Sister from another Mister
Derek