ERURS 02 Ref Dev’t Survey
This survey was prepared and sent out to all active ERURS referees, and some potential referees, on February 4/08 (Was sent out Jan 2/07 last year).
Every referee, I believe, wants to referee to the best of their abilities. So, the first step of referee development is to ask the referees what they desire in terms of their development as a referee. This is what the ERURS Referee & Referee Coach Survey 2008 was created to do: find out what the referees want.
Second step in the development process, with the aid of the Referee Coaches and the Coaching Reports from 2007, is to help the ERURS identify what areas of refereeing by our society members need development, improvement, and precision. All of the reports are confidential, and I have gone through them looking for patterns and common elements of refereeing that were done well and may need some improvement. This continues as a cycle of guidance and reflection, guidance and reflection, using constructive criticism and encouragement, moral support and respectful discussion. Next step: identify what other development is needed.
Third step is to compare the Rugby Canada standards with the performance of our society in general. Or even, for our Society to create standards in order to determine what are the minimums for referees to referee at certain levels. This should be an open process where the referees have input, where there is two-way communication, and is to be as transparent as possible. The ERURS has set up suggested minimums for fitness in order to be comfortable in doing each division of local game; the ERURS is currently still working on a grading system. For now, they will be using the ABC123 system of Rugby Canada. This second-to-last step is setting expectations.
Reflection as the fourth and final step will bring us back full circle to wants, needs, and expectations again. Referees will be encouraged to set goals for themselves, any and many, before the season & then review them at the end of the season. I am thinking that this can be individually, or with my idea of the Development Team. We’ll see how this works out by the end of the season.
This season we hope to have every active Referee coached at least twice. For those referees who would really prefer not to be coached twice, we can coach some referees up to three times. In 2006, there were 31 completed coaching reports; in 2007, there were 55 coaching reports done - and with about 32 active referees, 64 coaching reports is very do-able. With the patience and flexibility of the Referee Coaches, we will have another successful season of referee coaching.
This four part plan is actually open to suggestion as well, so if you have any input, please leave a comment.