By Randy Vogt
A few very advanced refs can earn enough money from refereeing to make it their vocation. For the rest of us, it’s a hobby that earns some money.
Although Iwill always be known best as a referee, I have done OK for myself in the business world while some weekend refs are the movers and shakers of corporate America. Officiating has been great as we havelearned this from it and applied it to our jobs:
Be disciplined. Referees need to be disciples of discipline as everything we do revolves around it, from purchasing andmaintaining uniforms to becoming physically fit to studying the rules.
When I was a teenager and young adult, I needed to be disciplined toadvance through the ranks and receive top assignments. Now in my 50s, I need to be disciplined to try and slow down the aging process so I can continue to receive pretty good games. So the burgers,fries and shakes that I might have eaten as a kid gave way to egg whites, salad and fish. Thankfully, bananas (which have nice nutritional value) have always been my favorite food.
Nearly 90%of companies offer wellness incentives to employees who work toward getting healthier, according to a recent survey from Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health. That’s upfrom 57% of companies in 2009. The perks are also worth more now: $521 per employee on average, compared with $260 seven years ago. After all, it’s no secret that healthier people work harderand smarter plus are happier. Maybe it’s just been good luck but I have missed only six days of work due to illness in over three decades in the business world.
For close to 20 years, Iworked the long hours of an art director in Manhattan ad agencies yet needed to be physically fit to ref top games. The creativity did not end with my job as I had to find creative ways to exercisewhile sometimes working 50- and 60-hour weeks. So instead of taking the elevator, I often took the stairs, walking up them as quickly as possible. Not exactly the Cooper Test, but walking up 10stories was the best I could do some days.
I’ve had co-workers who were fired since they struggled to get out of bed in the morning. And their weekends were free. Because refs aredisciplined, I was in at work on time, and then officiated on Saturdays and Sundays. If I had to travel hundreds of miles for a game or wake up at 5 a.m. so I could attend a clinic in another state, Ilearned to do it with a smile.
Manage people. Through refereeing, I learned to manage 22 players and have authority over others. After successfully managing a game, running adepartment of a company could conceivably be easier.
Leave your comfort zone. You do this every time you referee, even myself with lots of experience. And if you don’tbelieve me, come to my games and you will eventually come across an adult on the touchline who knows everything and thinks that I’m clueless. I learned how to deal with these people and canoften either neutralize them or turn a negative into a positive. So it’s not unlike dealing with a complaining client who phones and wants to put me on the defensive.
Follow therules. Referees obviously enforce the Laws of the Game on the field. It’s best that people follow the rules outside the soccer field as well. A good beginning is the Golden Rule.Whatever rules you believe that you should follow that will benefit society, as I become older, I’ve learned that although it can be challenging to follow the rules, but it’s easier in thelong run. After all, if I was not quite clean as a whistle and could not easily pass a background check, I could not referee or work in most industries.
(Randy Vogt has officiated over 9,000 games during the past three decades, from professional matches in front of thousands tosix-year-olds being cheered on by very enthusiastic parents. In his book, PreventiveOfficiating, he shares his wisdom gleaned from thousands of games and hundreds of clinics to help referees not only survive but thrive on the soccer field. You can visit the book’s websiteat PreventiveOfficiating.com)