With 65 matches to oversee at the Men’s EHF EURO 2022, the health and fitness of the nominated referees is critical to the success of the competition. With that in mind, the EHF have added to the referee support team for the event in Hungary and Slovakia with the goal of improving their overall physical health.
Through a partnership with FITGOOD PRO secured in October, EHF EURO referees now work with a dedicated team focused on their physical training, nutrition and injury prevention. FITGOOD PRO join psychologist and former THW Kiel coach Johann Ingi Gunnarsson in ensuring a holistic approach to health for all referees at the EHF EURO 2022.
“Fewer errors, more flow and handball is free to occur”
The partnership with FITGOOD PRO encompasses both the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO 2022. The team of four — manager and wellness coach Sergi Cedrún, fitness coach Dani Ariño, physiotherapist Maria Muller-Thyssen and nutritionist Ari Magriñá — have been in close contact with the EHF and referees in the lead-up to the EURO and Cedrún, Ariño and Muller-Thyssen are on site at the event.
“I usually explain to the referees that ‘we are here to help you to be even better referees’ — and that’s it. We help them to find their own best version from our three fields of expertise: physical activity, nutrition and injury management,” says Cedrún. “We empower them to be able to be on the court refereeing focused on what really matters, the game, and not on secondary topics like physical endurance, muscle pain or lack of energy. That means fewer errors, more flow and handball is free to occur.”
In the eight weeks leading up to the EURO, the referees followed a specific training plan outlined by FITGOOD PRO and all workouts were monitored closely using Polar watches in order for their physical progress to be tracked. In addition, referees are educated on nutrition — including advice for training days, match days and rest days — and receive injury prevention and management advice.
Once at the EURO, the first days see referees undergoing biometric and endurance tests, as well as training, stretching and mobility sessions specific for post-travel. FITGOOD PRO also lead the referees in team building activities, which not only help with the sense of being one refereeing team but manage the stress of the event.
During the EHF EURO, FITGOOD PRO help to manage referee workload, warm up, performance, recovery and injuries, adapting to each referee pair. As Cedrún highlights: “A EURO means several matches of highest level in few days of competition.”
“Handball is getting faster and more demanding year after year”
FITGOOD PRO, a Spanish company, have also been working closely with the International Handball Federation (IHF) since 2019, which means they have already been working with many of the EHF EURO referees for several years.
“We have been working through the past four years with more or less 60 per cent of the referees at this EURO, so we already have one of the most important things we need: their confidence. We know them and they know us, so trusting makes everything smoother and easy,” says Cedrún.
“That’s key for us to achieve their best results at the EURO. In that way, once the other 40 per cent of the referees enter in this dynamic of performance, it’s only a matter of time.
“The overall demands of our sport make them work hard because handball is getting faster and more demanding year after year. After this time with the IHF, the referees who have not worked with us see the changes in their international colleagues so finally the hard work pays off.”
And what are the biggest challenges for FITGOOD PRO? “It’s not easy to change habits, even more when that habits have placed them here: among the best referees in the world. But even at this level they need to be critical and fussy with themselves — not fall into their comfort zone — and analyse the global handball situation from an external point of view to be able to adapt to the changing times. The question is, ‘do you really want to be even better referee?’ If the answer is ‘Yes’, let’s start walking forward together,” concludes Cedrún.
“To be a good referee, you have to be a good person”
As Cedrún mentions stress management and team building as part of FITGOOD PRO’s approach, it is clear the holistic approach to referee health is seen as vital — and here is where the overlap with Gunnarsson’s work occurs.
Gunnarsson coached German powerhouse THW Kiel in the 1980s, leaving in order to pursue psychology after observing how players were physically well prepared but less so mentally. Since then, he has been a pioneer in the field and that extended to referees at the Men’s EHF EURO when he took up his current post in 2012.
With six Men’s EHF EURO tournaments now under his belt, Gunnarsson has worked with many of the referees in Hungary and Slovakia for several years, helping guide them through the event and delivering a pre-throw-off presentation for all together in the opening days. So how does he keep it fresh at each event?
“One of the things we were discussing this time was elite minds. It is really always looking at what you can improve in some areas, because the day you think you know everything you have stagnation. I try to mix some of the core things I always have to do, as a trainer as well, and always come with some new ideas.
“This time I took ideas from the Navy Seals and I even put my daughter at the end, talking about sleep. I always try to put something that will help them not only on the court but also off the court — in their preparation and also their daily lives,” says Gunnarsson. “I think that’s the way to do it: always come with something people know, but at the same time come with new perspectives.”
The reference to sleep in Gunnarsson’s presentation at this EURO related to habit forming, which Gunnarsson sees as critical towards mental health:
“One of my senses is that every person is a collection of habits, so my idea is really that we have to look at ourselves and see ‘what are my key habits? Are they working? Are they helping me to reach my goals? And if I had some superpower and I could install some of them, what would I install to improve further, and what habits should I delete?’ So look at it as a collection and if you follow your habits and your values, then I tell them ‘you have nothing to regret’ because we know that you are very well prepared.”
After Gunnarsson has been working with many of the referees for several years, he notices some long-term improvements — and the referees also acknowledge the impact of this psychological work at the EHF EURO and how it extends well beyond the confines of the tournament.
“Some of the things I have taught them have helped them in their normal lives and also taking on obstacles like getting sick, problems in their families,” says Gunnarsson, outlining some of the feedback he has received from EHF EURO 2022 referees and explaining how his work as a clinical psychologist reflects his holistic approach — that it is about far more than only what takes place on the court.
“One of my favourite sentences is ‘to be a good referee, you have to be a good person’ so that is why it is so important to develop on the court but also off the court, because if they have this balance, they can reach almost everything.”
In 2022, there is of course the cloud of Covid-19 hovering over the EHF EURO. So how does this impact the referees mentally?
“I started up with talking about ‘the new reality’. Two years ago, I said, uncertainty — find out what it is. Try to take it away because otherwise you have anxiety and stress,” says Gunnarsson, whose work at this EURO will also involve logistical adaptation to the new reality as he will not physically travel between venues as usual but will work with the referee pairs mainly digitally.
“The new reality is to have composure in uncertainty. I think Darwin would have said the people who would survive in this situation are the people who can adapt and say ‘I can still be composed. I can still be calm’. Really control the controllables. So that is the new reality that we have to take on — to be good in the situations that we can’t control.”
