The DNA OF Ref Support: Discover – Nurture – Achieve
Discover
Who we plan to recruit - The whole philosophy of Ref Support is to support and develop referees in order for them to reach their own potential, which is why we have designed our programmes to attract and recruit new young referees aspiring to reach higher levels and for existing referees at all levels and all ages. It’s important that we engage with our higher age referees, as some of these are the people who will be our future assessors, mentors and coaches and many will be in a position to pass on their vast knowledge and experience to others.
How we plan to recruit - Ref Support is not the only business we operate in football, for example one of the trustees has over 150 clubs as clients at all levels of football, many of which have shown a keen interest in our academy programme and educational hubs as part of their community links and their player exit strategy. Three of these clients already have established education hubs with a collective existing student base of over 2000 learners, they see the addition of a referee hub as a perfect addition to their existing education offer.
Within the existing business of the trustees we are currently working with six Premier League Clubs and five Football League Clubs delivering referee programmes through their football in the community and trusts, there is a desire by the clubs to link Ref Support as part of the for those young people who have an interest in progressing past the basic programmes.
Whilst we appreciate it’s not all about delivering programmes to the top leagues, we have also engaged with many local leagues both open age and youth who have shown an interest in bespoke training for their referees, some referees will naturally follow on and become members of Ref Support as part of their exit strategy and their continued developed through a mentoring or coaching scheme.
Nurture
Nurture is all about recognising the individuals existing skills, identifying their preferred learning styles and how we can affect their learning at their own speed, we recognise very strongly one ‘approach’ does not fit everyone.
How we will achieve this - This could take the form of mentoring or coaching or a mix of both whichever is appropriate, it’s important that we tap in to the needs of the individual and through a network of experienced well respected volunteers we will set both personal and performance goals, monitor, measure and evaluate their improvement and create an ever evolving personal development plan.
Achieve
How we will achieve this – We start with identifying what the individual wants to achieve, do they want to be the best they can be at local football or do they want to progress to higher levels. We follow this with the creation of individual development plans. Through the process it may be the individual just wants to be part of Ref Support to improve their skills, the knowledge and application, or it may be they would like to align their learning and development accredited qualifications both on and off the framework. Whatever it is they want to achieve we will support them through a range of blended learning such as, theoretical, practical on field, access to a range of modules on an e-learning platform as well as Webex and Podcasts to name but a few mediums we have at hand.
Key partners – We currently have a myriad of key partners we work with both nationally and internationally, these partnerships will pay a pivotal role in the development of referees including supplying opportunities for international exchange programmes and for individuals to officiate on international tournaments. Other partners include a range of Education organisations such as Colleges and Universities where we have created a full accredited pathway for officials from work based Apprenticeships, Level 1 through to masters at Level 7.
