Five of our Women Referees arrived with over 100 other colleagues from around the country to participate in a fun and informative day.

Clare Thompson Level 7 Referee took us through the day.

What an amazing event at the National Referee Development Day from the start to finish, I felt very privileged to be part of such a great event, St Georges Park is such an amazing venue.

I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the day, but particularly the outdoor sessions we had sessions on Positioning, Assistant Refereeing and Managing Non-Players. I particularly enjoyed the assistant refereeing workshop, the tutoring from Jane Simms was fantastic, I learnt how to signal sharper as an assistant referee which I will be able to put into practice over the next few weeks.

I also learnt a lot from the video analysis session, this has taught me to think a bit more about match control and how to avoid the temperature of the game getting out of hand by dealing with the not so ‘bigger issues’ more timely.

Another great part of the event was meeting referees from other CFA’s sharing experiences and working together as a team throughout the day as well as getting to know the referees from Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA.

The day as a whole was amazing, the tutors were fantastic, sharing their knowledge and inspiring us to go as far as we would like to as a referee.

Clare was joined at St Georges Park by Angela Ellis, Anita Daroubord, Caitlin O’Grady and Megan Wilson who all thoroughly enjoyed their day and learnt a lot which they are looking forward to applying to their next games.

Joanna Stimpson Womens Refereeing Manager added ‘I was delighted to see over 100 grassroots referees making friends, sharing experiences and having fun. It is very encouraging for the future of Women’s Refereeing that so many girls took the opportunity to attend the event to further develop their skills as referees’.

If you would like to join our team of Women Referees? or want to know how to get involved contact Natasha.Wilson@SheffieldFA.com who will be happy to help.