Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr;32(4):654-671.
doi: 10.1111/sms.14128. Epub 2022 Jan 15.

Training and development in sport officials: A systematic review

Ian Cunningham  1   2 , Jason Mergler  3 , Nick Wattie  2
Affiliations

Training and development in sport officials: A systematic review

Ian Cunningham et al. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Sport officials make significant contributions to organized sport, yet scientific evidence to inform their specialized training and education at various levels has lagged. While psychological and performance demands of expert sport officials have been well documented, the extent of research about talent and expertise development, training efficacy, and broader developmental trajectories is unclear. This systematic review summarizes 30 years of published findings on the study of training and development of sport officials, including areas of research interest, study designs, and sport official characteristics. A PRISMA systematic review was conducted, utilizing three scientific databases (Web of Science, SportsDiscus, PsycInfo) to identify relevant studies (N = 27). Female participants were generally underrepresented in studies (17%), while football officials were most often represented (79%). Training intervention (59%), retrospective (37%), and cross-sectional comparison (22%) were the main study designs. Expert and near-expert sport officials' training histories and responses to empirically driven isolated-skills training represented the predominant areas of study. Sport-specific, video-based infraction detection tasks were the most frequently used training methods to improve perceptual-cognitive skills for on-field decision-making, however, studies lacked retention measures to on-field performance. Psychological skills training programs were found to have mixed effects and used varied criteria for measuring training efficacy. Physical training showed mainly significant effects on physiological measures and aging influences for on-field performance. More rigorous sport-specific evidence, assessments of training transfer, program efficacy, and macro-developmental trajectory and milestone data are needed to inform training programs and developmental plans.

Keywords: development; expertise; performance; referee; sport official; talent; training; umpire.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. MacMahon C, Mascarenhas D, Plessner H, et al. Sports Officials and Officiating: Science and Practice. Routledge; 2014.
    1. Samuel RD. Training prospective soccer referees using a deliberate practice perspective: the Israeli Excellence Program. J Sport Psychol Action. 2017;8:184-196.
    1. Sam MP, Andrew JC, Gee S. The modernisation of umpire development: Netball New Zealand's reforms and impacts. Eur Sport Manag Q. 2018;18(2):1-21.
    1. Mascarenhas DRD, Collins D, Mortimer P. Elite refereeing performance: developing a model for sport science support. Sport Psychol. 2005;19:364-379.
    1. Samuel RD, Galily Y, Guy O, et al. A decision-making simulator for soccer referees. Int J Sports Sci Coach. 2019;14(4):480-489.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources