INTRODUCTION:
One of the most important roles within our club is to make our people better at what they do, whether that is refereeing or coaching referees.The G.R.O.W. Model is a simple yet powerful framework for structuring coaching conversations and written reports. As a coach, when you arm yourself with this proven technique you unlock the athlete's ability to grow not only as a referee but also as a person.

As a referee, when you arm yourself with this proven technique you become the master of your own destiny. You are able to OWN your own growth and development.

The G.R.O.W. Model was originally developed in the 1980's by business coaches Graham Alexander, Alan Fine and Sir John Whitmore.

A good way of thinking about the G.R.O.W Model is to think about how you'd plan a journey.

G. First, you decide where you are going (the goal),
R. You establish where you currently are (your current reality),
O. You then explore various routes (the options) to your destination and
W. In the final step, (way forward), you ensure that you're committed to making the journey, and are prepared for the obstacles that you could meet on the way.

In previous models of referee coaching, the coach would observe the referee during a match, sometimes without the referee even aware that they were being observed. No communication between the referee and referee coach had occurred prior to the match, so chances are, the referee had set no goals for the match, or if they had, these weren't communicated to the referee coach.

Using the G.R.O.W Model the referee is FRONT AND CENTRE of the entire process.

Referee
A day or two prior to the game, the referee shares their goals with their appointed referee coach by completing the first section of the G.R.O.W Referee Self Review and Coach Feedback Form which includes the details of the fixture as well as their 1, 2 or 3 game focus areas. If the coach doesn't know the referee's goals for the match,then the process should stop.

Referee Coach
Upon receipt of the referee's goals, the referee coach should confirm their attendance at the match, or if there's going to be a video available, advise if they are going to conduct a review from the video.

During the match, the referee coach observes the referee, concentrating ONLY on the referee's goals and any moments of brilliance (M.O.B's) and moments of stuff ups (M.O.S.U's), gather evidence (time references) and take notes. These notes will trigger the coach's questions that they will ask after the game.

The referee coach questions the referee around their understanding of their reality of their performance, based on their goals. The referee coach seeks the referee's views/feelings to see what self-awareness they have.

- ask questions without judging
- listen to understand (not to provide solutions) take notes
- coach connects to the referee and vice versa
- remove interference and build confidence

During this process, the referee coach repeats back to the referee what they're hearing (paraphrasing) and continues by asking, "AND WHAT ELSE?" This continues until the referee and the referee coach have fully explored in depth the referee's understanding of their reality.

Once both parties are comfortable that clarity has been achieved on the referee's understanding of their reality from the match, the conversation turns to exploring all possible options. Again, through questioning, the referee coach draws out of the referee what options could the referee employ the next time they referee.

The referee coach listens and repeats back to the referee (paraphrasing).

Again this step is continued until all possible options are fully explored and examined.

Depending on the experience of the referee, there may need to be some "instructional" assistance provided to the referee by the referee coach. This should only be used as a last resort, if during the conversation it's clear that the referee cannot provide any tangible options to move themselves forward.