Referees learning from their 'elders'

UEFA's ambitious programme to strengthen the overall standard of European refereeing has taken another step forward this week, with the latest stage of a project in which up-and-coming referees are being given expert guidance and support by their "elders".   

Nyon seminar
Promising young UEFA referees have gathered with experienced former referees and members of UEFA's Referees Committee for the second seminar for UEFA Referee Talents and Mentors, taking place in Nyon, Switzerland from Monday to Wednesday.

Harnessing talent
The UEFA "talent and mentor" programme is in its second year, and its purpose is to detect refereeing talent throughout Europe, harness and nurture this talent and prepare the best young referees for their duties in the coming years.

Regular discussions
A total of 30 referees have been assigned to 15 mentors - experienced former referees, who keep in constant touch with the progress of their two specific "pupils" through regular discussions and continuous supervision.

Useful advice
The mentors monitor their two referees' performances in domestic competitions, for example, and give useful advice, constructive criticism and healthy encouragement to their charges - all with the aim of making them better and well-rounded match officials. UEFA is given regular progress reports in this respect.

Ten new referees
For this year's course, ten new referees have been given "talent" status, and are replacing ten colleagues who are now deemed to have benefited as much as they can from the programme, as they are now sufficiently experienced and "battle-hardened" to officiate at UEFA Champions League matches.

Well-known names
The 15 mentors who are each responsible for two referees include many well-known names, such as Spain's José-Maria Garcia Aranda - who came off the FIFA international referees' list this season after reaching the age of 45 - Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy), Dieter Pauly and Aron Schmidhuber (Germany), and Robert Valentine (Scotland).

Fitness fine-tuned
At the Nyon course, the referee "talents" will be fine-tuning their fitness programmes together with Belgian expert Werner Helsen, who is working in close conjunction with UEFA on all aspects of referees' fitness and dietary requirements.

Top referees' tips
As well as individual discussions with their "mentors", the up-and-coming referees will also meet three of Europe's top referees - Graham Barber (England), Domenico Messina (Italy) and Rune Pedersen (Norway) - to exchange views and experiences about taking charge of matches at the highest levels.    

Instructors' seminar
The "talents and mentors" seminar is being combined with the 2002 Senior UEFA Referee Instructors Seminar, in which UEFA referee instructors will discuss practical and technical aspects of their work with UEFA's senior refereeing officials.