Nathalie Sjöstrand selected for step 4

There I stood, 13 years old and completely stunned, with a yellow card in front of me. Yellow card, for what? A yellow card at that time and youth football was equal to ten minutes of suspension. A perfect sliding tackle where I took the ball without even hitting the player. The sliding tackle that stopped both the opponents' attack and maybe our win in the match. Yellow card for nothing, I thought, my coach and a few others. However, he who stood there with the yellow card, an old man from south of Sweden, who was called a Referee and would decide things, he really thought it was a yellow card. I thought he did not refereed correctly, and of course he heard that, especially from me. I sat down and thought that needed a change. Youth football should have the same rules for both girls and boys and where I came from, a boys' team, where I tackled like that in every match and never that got a warning when we took the ball first. Frustrated, the thoughts continued as I removed black plastic balls from my leg.

Photo Cred: "fotbollslasse" on Instagram and Facebook

My name is Nathalie Sjöstrand I am 32 years old and I live in Kalmar, South of Sweden. When I was 13 years old, my idea of ​​becoming a referee started, maybe because of the situation above where I felt treated unfairly or maybe because I felt I had done better than him on the pitch who showed me a yellow card. In any case, I started refereeing football when I was 14 years old and always got acceptance for what I did. When in 2006 a chairman from Kalmar Football Referees' Club called, the answer was "Yes, of course I can test refereeing seniors". If a chairman calls and says that they have heard that you are good and should try to referee seniors, then you can not say no. Football was my life.

That's why I never stopped with football, except for two short breaks to become a parent. The love to the sport and still being a part of the football family. Football is life every single day. From the beginning, I may not have had a goal to reaching the top in Sweden. But now I'm close. It went well when I started, regardless of level, regardless of women or men, I probably had the feeling from when I played football and in the end I was selected for next step within the Swedish Football Association. Here the goal for reaching the top level for women was born. Let’s see how far I could go. It was the year 2012. Then my husband and I became parents, in 2013 and 2016, and the refereeing continued secondarily at the district level. Before the 2020 season, I thought that now it's about time, now we're running one last test for that top level. It must have gone pretty well, because before this year's season, it finally happened. I was selected for step 4, the last step on the women's side to have the opportunity to referee in Sweden's highest league for women. At the time of writing, the first of two theoretical parts has been completed and now analyzes, training and even more focus on football awaits. I live my life and who would not have done it if the goal you long for is not too far away.

You can read the continuation of my season 2021 and how step 4 has gone, later this autumn. Now it's summer, sun and training!

                   

Photo Cred: "fotbollslasse" on Instagram and Facebook