Getting In Shape

[coach41]

Hi all,

This is more of "me thinking out loud" than anything else. However, anyone else who has anything they want to add, feel free to chime in.

To recap, I've reffed CYO ball for 15 years now and high school 5 years now. Despite the long years, I don't think I learned "how to ref" until I joined my high school association. I think I've finally grasped some of the finer points of reffing and feel like I'm understanding what I need to do on the court

One thing that I hear other referees talk about is "getting in proper shape" for the season. I've not an old guy and I am pretty active in general. I always thought I was in pretty decent shape.

However, thanks to a combination of reffing more games on the boys side in my high school association this season, reffing a lot adult league games at big courts and playing basketball in my adult league, I was running up and down a lot in the past few weeks.

I realized how easier reffing came to me when I was running up and down. I wasn't as easily fatigued in an uptempo game and my mind was able to focus clearly on what was needed (most of the time) in my games.

The challenge now? My high school season is over and I won't have as many games that will make me run up and down. I want to find a way to keep myself in tip-top shape.

My season this year wasn't as good as expected (didn't get many great games due to work schedule) but I think I still managed to learn some things that I hope I can put to use next season.

[Mountaineer]

Do they have AAU in your area? Many guys in my association officiate tons of AAU games here and that seems to be an endless supply of games.

[Terrapins Fan]

I do something really different to get into shape.

I run a mile. Once I feel good about my mile time ( I try to get it to 7 minutes ) Then I walk/run the 2nd mile. I walk until I am rested, then run until I am tired then walk again and so on until I get my 2nd mile in. Once I build my endurence up, I try to get to where I run 2 miles and add a 3 mile of walking and running again.

This works really well for me, because as basketball officials we run and stop and run and stop. BTW I am 51 and soon to be 52....

[TRef21]

Hey Coach41.
Keeping in shape is the way to go to get ready for next season and camp. I used to run 6 miles a day but found that my legs would be tired and sore. My dad bought a staionary bike and that works wonders. It saved my legs for the last two weeks of the season. If you have a bike I would recommend riding it for about 20-40 mins a day 6 days a week. I love use it and you can also watch tv as well. I also do a weight program. I work on my chest and arm and abs. I do this at the gym at school. I do biceps curls 3x12, chest press 6x12 and abs working on my external obliques 3x20 on a machine in our fitness center. You should design a workout program for yourself. I'm an Kinesiology major taking exercise physiology right now and learning about all this stuff. If you need help let me know. I can try to put one together or you can ask your doctor or someone like that.

Tommy

[Bernie Beckerman]

I'm an emergency physician and a referee and I think the most important thing for most of us is to stretch, especially the legs. I have seen too many people over the years who were running and suddenly ruptured their Achillees tendon. In most cases a ruptured Achillees means surgery...and of course the end of the season. For some it can also be the end of their refereeing career.

[zebraman]

I lift weights for 45 minutes a day and do 30 minutes of cardio (stationary bike or stairclimber) during the off-season, five days per week. Since tearing my achilles 4 years ago (see post above), I now do 20 minutes of stretching on my workout days as well.

[Chess Ref]

I pretty much do what the zebraman does. And for 45 I am in great shape. Also what Bernie says....I play lots of tournament tennis and the single most important injury prevention thing I do is Stretch and lots of it.....

[jkjenning]

Originally Posted by Bernie Beckerman

...I think the most important thing for most of us is to stretch, especially the legs.

Big ditto!
After taking my daughters through plyometrics training, I took away a basic set of warmup routines that I always do beforehand:
straight-leg toes
straight-leg heels
straight-leg march
lunges, forward/backward
...the goal is to stretch and also raise your core temperature before you begin running.
As far as building up to running a great deal, take it slow since running as an official is completely different than running as a player (i.e. someone chasing you!) - chances are we will have enough standing around time to get completely rested after a few sprints anyway.

[GarthB]

There's a fairly decent 12 part series on "Official Fitness" on the paid portion of this site that was written, in part, with the cooperation of Dr. P.Z. Pearce, Medical Advisor to the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon ( and seven time finisher of the event) a team phsysician to the Seattle Seawhawks, advisor to Gonzaga University athletic department, member of US Olympic medical and drug committee, Medical Advisor to the US Marathon Association...among other positions.

Dr. Pearce sugests that one warm up the body prior to stretching. He also states that flexibility, cardio/vascular fitness, strength, endurance and balance/agility should all be part of any fitness program.

He points out that injuries to athletes and officials usually are caused by what he refers to as "novel action", meaning a movement that is unexpected or that which the body has not been prepared to undertake.

While including all the elements of fitness in a home program sounds daunting, with some simple workouts and 30 to 40 minutes six days a week, I've found it easy to do.

http://allsports.officiating.com/x/article/5244