Reacting Well To High Pressure Periods During Games

How do you officiate under pressure? What situations within games do you find the most stressful?

Play-off fixtures, knockout matches and the last minutes of close games are stressful for many referees. As the importance of the contest grows, the pressure officials feel skyrockets.

Fixtures with lengthy additional time, or which go into a period of extra time are particularly stressful for some referees.

An official may be fixated upon not being the reason that a team wins or loses in their mind, that they end up finding themselves unable to judge key match incidents for fear of the impact of making a mistake. This, in turn could lead to them making an even bigger mistake if they, for example, failed to recognise foul play in the penalty area.

It is also possible that a referee in this position could fall into the trap of spoiling the spectacle of the match by being quick on the whistle, awarding free kicks for every foul, irrespective of the magnitude of that foul and failing to play advantages when it is possible to do so.

Reasons For Feeling Increased Pressure in Games Which Enter Additional or Extra Time:

• You may want to get the game over quickly, instead of patiently waiting for opportunities to ensure the game is played fairly.
• You might want to get straight in to make a big decision and avoid debate ensuing amongst players, instead of getting your colleagues involved and taking their advice to come to the correct decision.
• You may feel your team of officials depends upon you to deliver the game successfully.

When you feel increased pressure, you tense up, rush into decisions, and make costly mistakes.

Officiating with excessive pressure rarely results in peak performance.

The Key to Producing in Added Time is Managing Pressure & Refereeing Your Game.

In the Canada & United States National Hockey League, ‘overtime’ play is frequent. We can learn a lot, as officials, from Ice Hockey players, as detailed in this example; In a 2021 regular season fixture where the Minnesota Wild faced the Los Angeles Kings, the game was tied 3-3 heading into overtime.

As time was running out in overtime, Minnesota winger Mats Zuccarello threaded a pass between defenders to teammate Matt Dumba. Dumba skilfully rounded the goaltender and scored in the last seconds of overtime to give the Wild a 4-3 victory.

The win was the fourth overtime victory by the Wild in the 2021 season and Dumba’s goal broke a record for most career overtime goals.

Why has Dumba been so successful in overtime?

Dumba doesn’t overthink or try to force his game. Instead, Dumba keeps pressure at bay by playing within himself and focusing on the action as it unfolds on the ice.

“I wasn’t even thinking. I was just focusing on making the right play and not trying to force it. Just so happened that Zuccy was able to find me.” – Matt Dumba, Minnesota Wild

Managing Pressure Does Not Mean Eliminating Pressure, it Means Reacting Well to Pressure Situations.

Coping with pressure is well within your mental abilities. Learning to maintain just the right range of pressure will help you perform at your optimal level no matter if it’s midway through a league game, extra time or a knockout fixture.