Guam Football Association referee instructor and referee committee vice chairman George Stewart conducted the training, which targeted referees for 18-and-under, high school, women’s, and men’s leagues. The course included two full weekends – from Jan. 28 to Feb. 6 – of technical training in the classroom and practical training on the pitch.
“We’re very pleased with the outcome of the course, which is the highest level training NMIFA has ever provided to our officials,” said NMIFA general secretary Ed Salas.
“This training has turned out a set of higher skilled referees, an important class needed to support our players as our number of games and level of play continues to increase every year. We hope to provide more of these types of training in the future to continue increasing our pool of certified referees in the competitive divisions.”
Topics included: the FIFA Laws of the Game, referee fitness, assistant referee development and responsibilities, advanced offside, communication, positioning, whistling techniques, player management, and foul recognition and sanctions.
Additional technical training also included assistant referee development and offside. The participants were also assessed on their performance during two controlled scrimmages and were required to pass a physical and written test for certification.
“I would like to thank the NMIFA for having this wonderful training,” said participant Jershwin Angeles.
“I would also like to thank Mr. George Stewart for being an excellent instructor and Cathy Anderson for being always there to help us. The six days of training gained me new friends, made me smile and laugh once in a while, gathered tons of information and most importantly I had fun. It was a worthwhile and very informative training, looking forward to another one.”
At the end of the course, Stewart received a plaque of appreciation and letter of commendation from NMIFA president Jerry Tan for his assistance with the development of the referee program. Stewart conducted the NMIFA’s first referee course in 2005.
