![]() It doesn’t know if you are a referee or if you are playing,” says Hawkey, who is one of five dedicated soccer referee fitness trainers in the world. Part of that improvement comes from enhancing the refs’ physical stamina, which is why the company hired Seattle-based fitness trainer and former collegiate soccer coach Matt Hawkey three years ago. Now a full-time professional referee for Major League Soccer, Geiger works for the Professional Referee Organization (PRO), a company with the mission to boost the caliber of soccer officials in North America. Although his running career doesn’t extend beyond the occasional neighborhood 5K, he remains connected to the sport as an assistant track and cross country coach at Lacey Township. Until early 2013, he worked as a math teacher at Lacey Township High School, in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey, before deciding to devote his full attention to officiating. Geiger competed as a cross country and middle-distance track runner in high school in addition to playing soccer. “I did run track in high school so that training was keeping me fit, but as I got older I grew my fitness training to prepare me for my matches.” I wasn’t really expecting to have to train for games,” Geiger, whose refereeing debut came at age 13, says. “When I started refereeing as a kid, I was hoping to just make a few extra bucks. He partially attributes the honor to a fitness regimen designed to help him keep up with the world’s best players.įor the six months prior to that World Cup, he ramped up his training, using tempo, sprint and fartlek workouts to prepare his body to shuffle, jog and sprint at least a 10K during each game in the tournament. ![]() ![]() Geiger, who has officiated professionally since 2004, was the first American referee to participate in the World Cup since 2002 when he worked the 2014 World Cup.
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