'World-first' refereeing course offered by Edinburgh Napier
The university has launched a Masters course in Performance Enhancement in Sports Officiating
Edinburgh Napier is launching what is thought to be a 'world-first' Masters degree this September supporting the development of referees and sports officials.
The University has launched a new course in 'MSc Performance Enhancement in Sports Officiating' – believed to be the first of its kind in the world.
The programme is designed for national and international level referees and umpires and will see 90% of it completed online so participants can study in their own time.
Led by Dr Duncan Mascarenhas, Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Psychology and Coaching, the first year of study will put prospective sporting officials through their paces in topics such as communication and game management along with leadership and organisational management.
Students will have the chance to continue onto year two, where they will learn to deal with high-pressure decision making using theories developed in the military, fire-fighting and NASA space control.
Year three provides an opportunity for students to undertake a programme of independent research within a chosen area of practice, led by a supervisor with expertise in the area.
The course has been developed out of a growing demand to provide referees and umpires with ongoing training – similar to the level of scientific support players have access to.
Dr Duncan Mascarenhas said: “The aim of the programme is to help develop individuals professionally as a sport official, referee or umpire coach/manager by using an evidence-based approach.
“To our knowledge there is nothing out there at the moment, both in the UK and in the rest of the world, that provides this sort of education for referees and sports officials, so we’re very much seeing this as a welcome addition to the officiating world.
“The online aspect of the course is very important. Many of those who will choose to undertake this programme will be full-time officials in their own right, so it was important to provide flexibility for them to study when suits them in and around their officiating commitments.
“There will be one contact point per trimester which will see students come together to help share ideas and increase interaction across sports. Hearing feedback on how to handle difficult players and how decisions are managed in other backgrounds can definitely help in developing you as a more-rounded sport official and referee.
“In officiating, the accumulation of practice hours to develop expertise can take years because structured training is not as readily available to referees as it is to the players. So, referees have to use critical self-reflection, peer review and pressure induced video-based activities to simulate the performance environment.
"This course aims to develop these ‘training’ skills in elite sports officials in order to enhance their performance on the field of play.
“We’ve had considerable interest from a wide variety of backgrounds and sports so far, and we’re looking forward to officially commencing the programme in September this year."
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