* Back to my own profile, particularly I would like to mention that from 1991, I was repeatedly
appointed to conduct senior seminars such as specialized topics. These were SRA seminars for
adult and senior grade referees many of whom held the grade 1 / Nat referee status.
* My OSA & OSRA senior activities as a senior provincial instructor continued from 1988 to Nov. 1995 when
I left the country for an overseas appointment in football at the national / international level.
* I made National Referee Instructor as a professional contract abroad with AFCC from 1995 to 1998.
* Presently, in Canada, I am a senior Provincial Referee Instructor with British Columbia S. A.
since 1998 & OSA since 1988..
Yes, if this page in particular appears to be childishly boasting and bragging, it isn't the couple of red wine glasses I just had; there is another reason for that; it's because I am actually boasting and bragging!. However, I invite you to bear with the egotistical tone - which is in fact a genuine football zeal, and to examine the data entered in here. After all, it is my home page, you know!! Where else would I boast proudly to the football community, to my family & friends and to my son and to the ladies I wish to impress!? Seriously, hopefully past the possibly irritating tone of some paragraphs which I decided not to paraphrase, you'll see and feel the real - between the lines fiber and spirit of this page.
This area presents my football peak. Well, here it is ..
* I started instructing back in 1979 in Ontario at the local town level as a young club referee-in-chief/instructor. In 1982 my instructing activities expanded over the district soccer association and the district-branch referees' association. A total of "8" years of experience at the club level and the district level.
* In 1988 I made the Provincial Referee Instructor
status with Ontario S.A. and I enjoyed a very active
period of provincial instructing at all levels. After only a
few clinics in 1988 with new youth and adult referees at
which I was monitored and assessed, I was quickly
promoted and utilized to instruct senior clinics starting
in 1989 with several grade 3 courses to start that were
allocated to me. I still keep a whole binder with OSA
official appointments and clinics reports.
* Between 1995 to 1998 in Asia, I was responsible for educating and training grade 2, 1 & FIFA referees
at the National level; as well as qualifying new instructors for AFCC.
Between 1995 to 1998 I lectured senior grade 1/FIFA referees in Europe repeatedly.
I conducted two referee camps in Bulgaria in 1996 and Romania and Bulgaria in 1997 to traing 30 selected grade 1 & FIFA referees.
I held the National - Staff Referee Instructor & Assessor post and the position of National technical development director for 3 years.
I take pride in the fact that I have always conducted and achieved successful clinics.
Many senior National/FIFA instructors have assessed me, All of whom have given my impressive reports,
no exception; not once. I still keep all these reports.
As well, the class routinely fills out a form with personal assessment marks and feedback remarks about the instructor at the end of each clinic, which are sent to the soccer body. I have always obtained copies of them which I also kept in a thick binder I have.
Clinic after clinic, while we hear horror stories about some instructors, OSA received many letters of appreciation especially from those in the educational field who took my course. They sent me memos.
My personal "instructor" reference memorabilia binder contains a copy of the feedback reports of those who attended each and every course
I conducted for the past 8 years "it's now year 2000". Yes, as I said, I keep a copy of all these assessments and on many occasions voluntary complimentary remarks were made by OSA/OSRA technical management as to how do I continue to consistently obtain such praise by all attendees when many senior instructors are often criticized and shown no appreciation? Well, as I admit to the childish tone of boosting here, I must refer to the importance of utilizing my psychology of teaching scholastic training and my practical background as a teacher to secure effective and enjoyable clinics.
Dr. Paul Gouda instructing National QFA grade 1 & FIFA referees at a referees camp in Europe, Bulgaria, 1996.
Since then, OSA has annually sent me all-over the province. I often had to fly to as far North as North Bay to conduct senior - adult clinics. From 1989 to 1995 I was annually appointed to an average of five grade 3 adult clinics by OSA and seven senior OSRA seminars/clinics to address a mix of grade 3/2/1/Nat referees.
I conducted over "70" OSA / OSRA senior
referee "3+" clinics from 1989 to 1995.
Taking pride in football instructing was influenced by the old teacher within. Let me say that so far, in 20+ years, I am yet to receive one single complaint or criticism concerning my teaching methodology, effectiveness, material, deliverance, personal issues or any other clinic matter. Something very few instructors can say. I am sure, I am bound to have one individual one day who may submit a negative remark, however, if and when it happens it certainly will be dismissed against two decades of recorded official performance assessments. As I said, I take football seriously.
I have seen many instructors with mere referee experience who are merely "want-to-be" teachers. Their lack of teaching training does not correspond with their insistence to continue to instruct. There are instructors who basically read the laws of the game to the class offering dry, hollow, and infective deliverance. There are those who provide no practical on-the-field training drills. There are those who for political reasons made the grade and get the assignments but, they don't know and don't want to know that they don't know! At the same time, there are those whose techniques are effective and enjoyable and they produce results in terms of absorbency and retention. My role as a Referee-In-Chief in 2000-2001 will include building my own file of grading the instructors we utilize or those referred to us; to ensure allocating the right ones to the clubs membership. We received many complaints from clubs about some instructors and many positive comments of praise of others.
Some of my recent 1995/2000 instructor appointments included:
* To instruct senior referees "grade 1/FIFA" in Europe being the sole instructor on the topic of Psychology of officiating.The course consists of 5 classroom sessions, 2 hours each; and 4 practical on-the-pitch drills sessions of 1.5 hour each; a total of 10 hours theory and 6 hours practical.
I have authored the material of this course over a period of a few years and I have utilized my psychology training at the Masters level along with my referee experience to produce this material. This course has been met with exceptional praise by several FIFA instructors and directors who attended as guests.
I have been repeatedly invited to address this topic in particular in many countries and provinces.
I have addressed this topic in Canada in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia several times.
Speaking of practical training, I was the first to introduce actual on-the-field practical training drills to class 3 clinics in Ontario as a provincial instructor; in fact at one point I was accused of being out of clinic quota and trying to be different or trying to tell them how to do it! At the time, the clinic agenda had no room for such on-the-pitch practice.
I have always preached the importance of both types of training, theory and practical. One must have both.
* I conducted a senior clinic on psychology of teaching and methodology of effective instructing.
The class consisted of junior and senior instructors and senior referees who plan to take an instructor
course. The course consisted of two parts: The psychology part which entailed 10 hours and the
methodology part which entailed 6 hours. Part "II" can be demonstrated with the two charts posted on the
yellow background frame above:
You may also view a couple of other files on the soccer association site below as indicated:
* I introduced seminar material that was described by FIFA Technical development director as "innovative and revolutionary". It introduced a new approach to teaching the laws of the game. I called it: "analyze,
not memorize". It introduced a simple and logical systematic approach to understanding the laws. For the
past decade, I have seen instructor after instructor utilizes this material and approach successfully.
Please review the testimonial sample entry at the end of this page, an extract from an OSA letter.
A National instructor in the late 1908s said: "In 30 years of instructing we never heard of this approach. We have to be careful before we philosophize and come up with new theories. The safest way is to just tell the class what the laws say"! Ironically, a few years later, three senior instructors including him adopted this approach to teaching the laws of the game. In fact, a senior instructor re-written several material and articles he had previously written, added my material, and at the end dated the articles with the previous/original date with mere indication that it was revised recently; thus implying that the material included has been introduced by him since the original date of the article! A sneeky way to take credit for the material, eh!
Actually, I have always shared my material with fellow instructors and never claimed territorial boundaries on the material I authorizes. I found it funny when I received several phone calls from friends in Ontario within the past few years telling me how some of my material was "not just utilized" - rather "stolen" by instructors who reproduced it as their own, including the charts and the "analyze-not-memorize" material I produced and published in "Free-Kick" and "What-A-Kick" and "On-Side" magazines during the period of 1983 to 1995.
Some of my charts and material are posted on the district referee site of the association I presently serve locally. Please visit this address for a tour:
Or cantact me for copies of my books and mannuals.
I still have the original OSA letter.
During the past 10 years as a senior instructor, and particularly during the period of 1995 to 1998 while being employed as full time referee development officer and staff National instructor, I authored "9" books and mannuals for senior referees and referee instructors, namely:
- Referee guide
- Positioning for control
- Preventative officiating
- Psychology of officiating
- The instructor's mannual
- Open-book exercise paper
- Report writing for referees
- Analyze, don't memorize
- "Psychology and methodology of effective teaching" for instructors.
For illustration, categorizing free kicks under a list of 20 cases, 10 direct and 10 indirect. This material was first created by me as a chart with 9 DFK VS 9 IFK "as the case was at the time" back in 1983.
No such material existed before then. Another example would be the case I mentioned, the conditions for a free kick to be given, the offence must be:
- committed by a player
- committed on the field of play
- committed while the ball is in play.
. by a player, on the field, ball in play .... a simple fact that instantly solves hundereds of questions about
game situation. This is just an illustrative example of a complete package as an approach to the laws.
The approach introduces few simple key facts and builds a simple and logical method of "thinking football" - as opposed to memorizing answers to questions or to hundreds of possible situations or scenarios."Analyze, don't memorize" has always been met with a great deal of positive response by referees and fellow instructors. Actually, at one point, a senior instructor commented "where does it say that in the laws of the game?' ... It doesn't ... I replied. The material is simply an intelligent extract from the laws. Yes, for example, no where in the laws it states the three simple conditions for a free kick to be awarded. So, you can go through a list of many scenarios and cases hoping that you covered every possibility and that the student will memorize the answer to each case; or you can give the student one single key to answer a thousand case instantly.
As I said, I used to teach at the high school and the university level in Ontario and I have several papers on methodology and psychology of teaching. The genuine teacher in me utilizes the instructor role in soccer refereeing to satisfy a deeply rooted fiber within. It is a challenge and a pleasure to conduct a clinic and to see referees walk out with solid and practical knowledge and with great retention.
Click below to go to the soccer page or the home page
In 1995, OSA "Ontario Soccer Association" written a letter to FIFA's VP & Asia FC president as part of the process of my appointment to the National professional post I mentioned. In that letter, OSA stated the following:
You are welcome to browse the material posted under:
"readings" - "general" - "you think you flown before .."
A letter such as the preceding assessment, is as valuable to a footballer as a post doctoral diploma.
Well, I'll Conclude this page with the fact that during this month "July 2000" I received 4 invitations to instruct referees:
- From Ontario Referees - York SRA to conduct an educational seminar. I would like to mention that I
made an unbroken record when I attracted and
instructed 96 referees in Scarborough Ontario at
one Sunday afternoon educational seminar back
in winter 1994. It is a record OSRA branch
attendance for a pre-season educational clinic
attendance.
Yes, never before, never since that many referees
showed up to attend a clinic "especially one that they
didn't have to attend such this educational seminar"
- My experience was collected from Europe, e.g senior symposiums in Romania and Bulgaria, to Ontario to British Columbia. This year, 2000, I conducted two adults referee certification clinics .
Paul Gouda
This page was created July 2000
* near 20 years of referee Instructor experience from the grass root "club level" to the District, Provincial and top National level including 3 years of professional international/overseas contract in the 1990s.
This page will present you with a record I am proud of. In fact while I don't keep a scrapbook of my achievements as a
chemist or a professor - and there are a few awards and papers; I do keep a scrapbook of my football instructing record and I do brag about it as you see!
I'll conclude with another extract from an official assessment by A FIFA director and a Chairman of Football Confederation Referee Committee who is one of the most respected referee instructors in the world; "of course I keep it in my scrap book"!:
I must admit, I wondered at first whether he would be able to give me a fair assessment as an instructor or whether he would justify to himself putting me down "at least a little" out of self interest. I am glad he was very professional and above personalities. This is what he said at the end of an "A+" mark report "highest assessment mark":
I must admit my impression of Canadian football I had was not overwhelmingly impressive. I shall say though that you left us with a different picture of Canadian referee instructors. As a retired educator, I appreciated your teaching techniques. You penetrated the class' mind and heart. Your material makes the point simple and logical. The class clearly enjoyed it, they liked you, interacted with great attention and participation, and I can bet on the class' retention and practical development.
Your training drills on the pitch were excellent. Your deliverance in the classroom was excellent. The posters, the open-book exercise paper, the game scenarios and little stories - all were great.
A great performance and a job well done. It was a pleasure. Hope to see you again.
Synopsis:
Two files "charts" are posted here in JPEG format. They are taken from my book "The instructor's manual" and I had actually first written them for a paper on psychology & methodology of teaching back in 1984. Please examine. Please note that depending on your PC it may take a minute to load. These charts are commonly utilized for training instructors:
One side of a historical clinic I conducted which made a record attendance of 96 referees.
I have utilized this manual upon my qualification in British Columbia.
My efforts as an instructor were quickly realized and to the dislike of older BC-born old-fashioned instructors, I was appointed to many clinics and educational sessions. In fact, I was one of 4 instructor speakers at a BCSA referee instructors symposiums held in Vancouver. Further more, I was appointed to write the qualifying referee clinic instructor manual. The following copy of correspondence refers to that. The manual is material for the instructor and a class 3 clinic syllabus that took it beyond that to a full illustrated technical manual of 230 pages. It was utilized by BCSA.
My scholastic approach to instructing referees was put together in the form of a clinic manual book. It included starts, instructor flash cards, overhead sheets, summaries, clinic syllabus, presentation techniques, specific practical drills, and more. It was published as separate chapters from 1982 to 1992 in 4 magazines I edited: What-A-Kick, OnSide, Free Kick, Can-So-Ref. It was then put together as a manual and complementary copies were sent to global utilization to National Football Associations allover the world. The response was very positive. I still have the original letterhead written feedback I received from National Football Asoociations and FIFA praising the innovative approach to instructing. Here is a short extract:
