NSW Country Championships was held in Dubbo this year, a 6-hour road trip from northwest from Sydney (but with a difference of about 100km depending on route). I was originally not planning on attending until one of my referee mates pointed out that I really should "check the box" on it... and he was right because I have thoroughly enjoyed every State and National event I've been to so far and would have probably ended up kicking myself later for missing this one. Thanks Fraggle :-)
On-field, I have achieved everything and more that I wanted to in Touch before I came to Australia. So instead of participating as an active referee at this event I spent my weekend with the State Panel developing as a referee coach, getting a feel for how they do what they do and for what happens behind the scenes with the evaluation and [finals] appointments processes. I was grateful for the invitation as it would set me up very well for the Referee Recruitment & Retention Program I would attend in June to attain formal accreditation(s) for course presenting and referee coaching.
(Of course having got a taste for the fun these people have together when I met most of them for the first time six months ago at State Cup (my no-alcohol preparation for the previous 4 weeks blown in the process!) I was also looking forward to partaking in a little myself... not that I'll be writing about it!)
The weekend certainly opened my eyes to the public and behind the scenes effort that the Panel members put in before, during and after these tournaments. Even after one day, I was mentally tired and actually sore.
Friday saw a pretty leisurely road trip out to Dubbo - via Bathurst where I drove a "hot lap" of the famous Mount Panorama circuit (but that's for another story!) - followed by a chilled out afternoon of catch-up chat and banter as people arrived at the motel. Around 6pm most people headed across the road to the Leagues Club for a feed before the weekend "officially" started with the pre-tournament referees' meeting and subsequently the Panel's team meeting - both of which are largely to motivate and communicate expectations, strategy & procedural announcements.
Now normally the night before a tournament I'd be back in my hotel room relaxing and settling down for a reasonably early night in preparation for an early start. But I'm not active this weekend :c) so it's time to get a few drinks in! As it was my first time with the Panel though, I and another fella were also on "grommet" duty, which meant serving up drinks to the rest of them for the night! Good times... late too!
Saturday morning and dammit the cold/flu symptoms I've been trying to fight off the past week have caught up with me... though I should hardly be surprised. So I downed a mug of hot honey & lemon before heading to the fields - via Maccas for a brekkie roll - fried food is the order of the day the morning after a drinks session! Naturally there were plenty of other people with the same idea and surprisingly a lot of them were players.
Wish the exception of a short break for lunch, I spent 8 till 5 on my feet watching games, attempting to study and write up coaching sheets for 3 referees at a time and delivering feedback to them after the games. After play finished for the day we [Panel] all headed straight back to the hotel to begin the evening's meetings - reviewing the day and discussing upgrades, finals appointments and back-fill appointments. This took about 3 hours in total, not including having to break for the tournament referees' dinner. I'm told we "got off lightly" in time terms as frequently these meetings run into the small hours of the morning. I skipped drinks that night, instead curling up in bed with more hot honey & lemon and the Lions tour game on TV.
I actually fell asleep before the game ended but not before contemplating differences between attending a tournament as an active referee vs. as a referee coach... but more on that later.
Sunday morning was a similar to Saturday... early start, not-exactly-healthy breakfast and more game watching and referee assessing. Around midday we [Panel] all got together to have a full team debrief as people needed to travel. It was a really good open and honest session for all concerned. Normally the Panel will invite a couple of coaches to work with them at an event but this time out there were NINE of us, so a little more "full-on" for them but the flip side is I think lots of great feedback came out of it so well worth it.
As active referees, we pretty much show up and run according to a schedule that has been prepared for us... and yes we generally run our guts out. When we're off duty though, we can sit down, recover and relax somewhere getting out of the sun/wind/rain if we choose. The Panel does a bunch of prep work before each tournament and coaches spend most of their days on their feet watching and analysing games, followed by evenings stuck in meetings. This is a big ask requiring much concentration effort and I for one developed a renewed appreciation for what these people do at every tournament.
I'm so glad I did this and am looking forward to the RRRP now and getting back on the field at Vawdon Cup in Sydney :-)
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