While watching the FIFA World Cup tournament this summer, you might have noticed statistics on just how far players ran during a soccer match.
For example, Thomas Mueller, who played on Germany’s championship-winning team, covered 52 miles over seven games. That’s an average of nearly 7.5 miles per game. U.S. player Michael Bradley covered even more ground, averaging about 8.5 miles per game.
No great shock there. Soccer players are expected to be in amazing shape. But what of the other guys on the field — the referees?
They need to be fit, as well. Without being fit, you can’t keep up with the action, said Mililani AYSO volunteer referee Matt Kelley, a 48-year-old fitness buff whose workouts allow him to go stride for stride with teenage players.
"I would just encourage all the referees out there, if they want to be a good referee, they got to be fit," said Kelley, a recently retired Army colonel. "Because if you’re not, if you’re lagging behind play, you’re not going to be able to get the right calls."
Born in Boston, Kelley grew up in Germany where his father was a Department of Defense school principal. He was active in many sports — baseball, football, cross country — but never played soccer. Not then, not during college at Indiana University, not during his 26 years in the Army and not now.
The father of three girls — Katie, 22, Emily, 19, and Caroline, 16 — became involved in the sport only when he and his wife, Jennifer, signed up the youngest for AYSO when the family moved from Schofield Barracks to Mililani seven years ago. Shortly thereafter Katie, then 16, decided to play, too.
From there Kelley learned how to officiate and moved up the ranks, continuing to volunteer his time even though his children no longer played in the league. Now, as a nationally certified referee and advanced instructor, he not only trains referees, he trains other trainers.
Kelley stresses that people shouldn’t become a referee to get into shape; they should get in shape in order to referee.
"They all realize the importance of fitness after they’ve done a tough game and they realize how tired they are," he said. "So it’s a good incentive and a good motivator to keep guys out there and to maintain a level of fitness so they can do soccer games."
On the pitch Kelley practices what he preaches. He often needs to keep up with teenage players who are 30 years younger than he is. Kelley estimates that during a full 90-minute match, a center ref runs about three to four miles. Considering he sometimes has to referee three games in a day, that means Kelley could end up running more than 11 miles, all while concentrating on making the right calls.
KELLEY SAID he likes to keep fit not only for his referee duties, but also to keep his weight down as he gets older. A bout with mela-noma in 2005 also has driven home the importance of staying healthy. (He always makes sure to slather on a lot of sunscreen when he referees.)
Although he officially completed his Army career May 30, he still keeps a fairly aggressive workout regimen, alternating between aerobic exercise and strength training five days a week.
On aerobic days he combines running, biking and swimming for an hour of exercise, then stretches for 20 minutes. On his strength days Kelley does pushups, yogalike poses, pullups and deep knee bends, and medicine ball and weightlifting exercises.
Even as he neared retirement, he maintained his perfect record of scoring the maximum 300 points on the twice-yearly Army physical fitness tests.
To achieve a perfect score in his current age group, he needed to do at least 59 pushups in two minutes and 66 situps in two minutes, and run two miles in 14 minutes, 24 seconds. During his last fitness test, in April, Kelley did 89 pushups and 92 situps, and ran two miles in 12:50. Those results would have given soldiers in their 20s a perfect score.
Kelley was told he should not have taken the test, though, because he had already received his retirement physical exam. "They don’t want you to have a heart attack after your physical," he said with a laugh. "But it was no big deal."
AYSO also has a fitness test, which assesses both the endurance it takes to be the center ref and the short bursts of speed needed to be a linesman.
It’s a piece of cake for Kelley.
But does he think he could hang with referees in the big leagues, pacing the likes of World Cup stars Lionel Messi of Argentina and Brazil’s Neymar?
"The professionals? Wow … I think so," Kelley said confidently. "The fitness test we take is comparable to the ones they give the FIFA referees, and I did very well on that. So I do think I could keep up with them."
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