Avoiding Allowing Negative Self-Talk to Cause you to Make an Error

Have you ever missed a clear foul in the penalty area?

Officiating under pressure, especially in key fixtures, such as cup finals, can be extremely difficult for referees. You might feel like the spotlight is on you and everyone is watching every move you make and decision you take. In addition to this, the intensity of the fixture could be going through your mind: “If I make a mistake now, the outcome of the game could be decided by me. Concentrate.”  You don’t want to let either team or your colleagues down on this stage, so you keep thinking, “Just concentrate.”

I remember, specifically, a game I refereed early in my career where this was my mentality, as a result of this, I ended up making an error on a key match incident (KMI). I was relatively newly qualified and the fixture was a local derby. The home team had won the reverse clash earlier that season, so the away side were looking to put things right. In the 85th minute, the scoreline was 0-1. I knew that if I made a mistake I could cause one of the teams to lose the game. I kept thinking, “Don’t miss anything, don’t make a mistake, don’t give anyone a reason to blame you,” over and over.

What do you think happened?

You’ve probably guessed correctly. I missed a clear foul in the penalty area. It was right in the centre of the box, virtually on the penalty mark. I felt so down and disappointed afterwards, especially when I saw the immediate cheering from one team and yelling of abuse from the other upon my waving away of the foul. It was such a simple decision for me to make. All I needed to do was make my run a couple of yards to my left and my viewing angle would have been 100x clearer. I can identify foul play quickly and easily, so there was nothing I really needed to focus on. I just needed to position myself correctly. However, I did the complete opposite. My negative self-talk meant that I talked myself right out of success in that pressure-packed situation.

I find this quote to hold so much truth: “You can talk yourself into victory or defeat.” This is what I did.

Instead of stepping onto the field of play and thinking about what you want to avoid, or don’t want to happen; think about what you WANT to do. You WANT to achieve the highest level of accuracy in your decision making as you possibly can, so have that focus. Think to yourself, “How can I make sure I give myself the best chance to make a correct decision.”

Being trusted on a key fixture or any game generally can be stressful for referees. Rather than thinking negatively or about ‘not missing a KMI,’ think about and see yourself ‘making the correct decision.’ The way you think can drastically influence your presence, authority and credibility out in the middle.

At The Third Team I work individually and in collaboration with different professionals where I have developed workshops associated with Resilience and Mental Toughness Development to help referees. The workshops are interactive, where referees are encouraged to open up and share their experiences to help each other.

Feel free to contact me if you’d like to know more about my workshops and how I could help you or your officials.

Best Wishes,