Interview with Anastasia Oberlauf

Last week, Anastasia Oberlauf made her debut in the highest league for ladies, football, in Sweden, as head referee. Of course we wanted to have a short chat with Anastasia to hear how it felt. Anastasia also has an interesting story about how she started refereeing football.

– Nice with debut in the highest league Anastasia! How did it feel before the match?

– Thanks. We had a step four course in connection with this match. So part of the training was this match. It was quite tense, we did theory passes all Friday and watched another match as well. On Saturday, there were theory sessions and video sequences. Then I also refereed as a fourth official together with another debutant in the “Damallsvenskan” (ladies highest league), on Saturday. It was exciting, but for me at the same time there was a little extra focus on my match on Sunday. During the week I was not so nervous but more happy that I had got the match and been giving the chance. However, the day and the night before, after Saturday's match, the excitement and my expectations began to rise before Sunday. Saturday night I was very nervous before I went to bed. I could fall asleep, because I was so exhausted after the weekend. But I was nervous. Then when I came to the match and to the arena, it felt like the routine kicked in and I was calm then.

– During the match then? Describe your thoughts.

– During the match, it was wonderful. It was sunny weather and I had a good calm the first 10 minutes. I was nervous right at the beginning though, because I got in the way of the game and got a ball on me in the first seconds of the match. It was because of the nervousness. Their and then I went into myself and said that “No, this must not ruin my match” and dropped it and went on. I told my Team to help me a little with pep talk and then the nervousness got away and I read the game better afterwards. The players were also serious and focused on the game, which felt good.

– How did it feel right after the match and how is it now that the match landed a couple of days?

– There have been a lot of analyzes afterwards on what could have been done differently and what has been good. It took a couple of days before I landed in all the thoughts. Now in retrospect, it feels great and fun to have made the debut! I enjoyed the match, both during and after it and got good self-esteem. It has been one of my goals, to judge the highest league for ladies, and I am very happy with it.

– What do upcoming matches look like then?

– I have a couple of matches on the schedule, the next one is now for the weekend when I have a match in the men's division two and it is good, I think, to mix men and women for me. You get a better understanding of the game as a referee, I think, and you learn to read the game in different ways.

– Game understanding and reading the game, you said. Where does it come from?

– My game understanding? Haha. I actually have no football background at all. I've never played football before. I had a bit of a bad self-esteem in the beginning when I started refereeing football, because of that. It was then a "bad" thing not to have played football but has made me turn it to an advantage as well. I also know that there are international referees who have felt the same way. Now I have trained my understanding of the game by watching a lot of football and doing match analyzes, and refereeing a lot of course. I have also attended a minor coaching course, to learn more about how to build up football and the most important basics. How do the players think and how can I learn to prevent based on that. I have no problems with sprint and physics, so I have good closeness to the game and can possibly regain some lost game understanding there. Game understanding is a constant development point on my agenda, and should be for all referees.

– Do you remember how it all started? Why did you become a football referee from the beginning?

– It's also an interesting thing. I have been doing a lot of music, piano and flute during my childhood. In 2011 I met my husband, who I am married to now. He then refereed football and his father also refereed. My husband refereed a lot then and I did not really understand then how he could slip away from the date to referee a match, just like that. Then it happened a couple of times that I followed him to matches when he was the referee. There I sat in the sun and drank coffee and watched his match. Two years after we had started dating, it was such a wonderful match with three free kicks and I had a small, small dream to play football when I was little. But during this match, I thought "yes, maybe I can do that too"? So when we got home from there, I told my husband that yes, I also thought I would become a referee. My husband then said “Yeah… huh? You have never played or had that interest ”. But both my husband and his father said of course, we support you and referees are needed! We refereed parallel in the beginning, but in recent years my husband only refereed floorball and now he has lost his motivation and quit completely.

– How are Anastasia as a referee?

– I hope I feel very humble and that I am there to lead the match. Not that I'm just there to point, show cards and blow the whistle. I'm having fun with players and likes to have communication with players. I care about my referee team and like to eat lunch or food with them before or after the match. That we should have a good relationship is important. Both with my referee colleagues but with everyone else around the match as well.

– What is the best thing about being a referee?

– It is that you get to be a big part of football. Part of the football family. Then especially for me, it's my curiosity about people. I find everything that has to do with leadership and psychology interesting. How to handle conflicts and how you can develop in it yourself!

– Now the season in Sweden is almost over and it will be winter. What do you do in the winter?

– My God, there's so much fun. I love skiing, so hopefully there will be a lot of skiing. Then of course spend more time with the family, you don't have time for that much during the season. Then I work as a physiotherapist and hope that I go in there and develop more in that role, during the winter.

– In the role of judge, what will be the focus during the winter now? Specific training?

– I've never had a problem with physics. The skis are more like a complement. But during the winter there will be sprint training and interval training. We have a schedule that we follow and start from, but I usually train even more than that because I think it's fun. My husband and I train together a lot.

– You are not so old… You have a bright future. Do you have any dreams in the refereeing career?

– It would have been obviously interesting to see if I can get all the way up internationally. See if I can get some matches internationally! That's the dream. But I have always been a little careful about setting such high goals for myself, but take one step at a time and set realistic goals and then take it from there. Obstacles may appear along the way. My closest goal is to become a regular referee in “damallsvenskan” and become safe and feel at home there. If I achieve that, then I have to take the next step from there.

– Finally, Anastasia. What do you want us to talk about, before we say good bye for this time?

– I would like to mention that more of those who play football dare to try themselves in this role as a referee. I think it can give them a lot. Both as a player and as a person. That they above all get to know themselves more, which will benefit them in, really, all sorts of situations, for example in working life. I want more people to dare and want to try out the role of referee, even if you continue or not, it will be an investment for you.

– Do you have a message for a referee then, regardless of level, if that person are considering quitting as a referee?

– Yes I have! It is that once you have fun and refereeing football, that you then make it clear to yourself and write down why you think this is fun. Just saying that it's fun and feeling that feeling can not be returned to when the motivation is lacking and you are thinking of quitting. If, on the other hand, you have made it clear to yourself that why you referee and why it is fun, you can make a good decision. It is important that you do it for yourself and not for anyone else. So my message to all the referees out there; Identify why you think it's fun to be a referee and return to it when you feel it's boring or you lack motivation. It will also be a good thing to go to when other things come up in life that may have a higher priority than the role of a referee, what do I need to put aside and why.

– We at Spintso know that you use our Retro Pro watch. Of course, we will send over an early Christmas present to you Anastasia, as a thank you for the chat with you. Good luck in the future.

–I thank you for that!