Gerrit van den Heuvel. Photo Steven Snijders Who: Gerrit van den Heuvel (58)
What: Football referee trainer for the Royal Dutch Football Association KNVB
Why: infect others with his passion for refereeing
Earnings: Varies a lot, €400 gross per month on average
It’s not just students who have side gigs; WUR staff do it too. The other life of Gerrit van den Heuvel (58), who works in IT at Facilities & Services, plays out on the football pitch. He spends a few hours a week teaching prospective referees to blow the whistle right.
‘I’ve been working at WUR for 32 years now, 15 of those in my current IT job at Facilities & Services. Our team makes sure there’s enough storage and server capacity for things like research data and the computing power we need. Regular maintenance has to be done too. My side job is something completely different: I train football referees and the referee assessors who monitor them. I got the refereeing bug when I was 36. As a trainer, it’s so nice to see the trainees coming out of their shells as time goes by. During difficult times, such as when my parents died, these courses helped me get through it.’
You can’t ignore it if someone shouts ‘Flatten him!’
‘Every group is different. There are lots of highly motivated trainees who are keen to blow the whistle for the KNVB, and it’s very nice to support them. But some trainees drop out too: sometimes a person doesn’t have the right skills. Or the course is not what they expected. Being a referee is wonderful, but it has its challenging sides too. You get called nasty names sometimes, and tensions can run high on a football pitch. Social media is a topic on the course too. And there’s a module on mental resilience for those who are interested. It’s crucial to stay in control on the pitch. Short lines of communication. Early anticipation. Bringing players together when necessary. You can’t ignore it if someone shouts “Flatten him!” – even if it comes from the bench. And always use precise phrasing: “I saw that…” That way you stick to the facts.
I’m a man of action, not words. I sometimes run into a problem and realize that I could have anticipated it. I teach my trainees that there are four phases: observation, interpretation, decision and action. In my job at WUR and in daily life, I tend to go into action a bit too quickly.’’Every group is different. There are lots of highly motivated trainees who are keen to blow the whistle for the KNVB, and it’s very nice to support them. But some trainees drop out too: sometimes a person doesn’t have the right skills. Or the course is not what they expected. Being a referee is wonderful, but it has its challenging sides too. You get called nasty names sometimes, and tensions can run high on a football pitch.
Social media is a topic on the course too. And there’s a module on mental resilience for those who are interested. It’s crucial to stay in control on the pitch. Short lines of communication. Early anticipation. Bringing players together when necessary. You can’t ignore it if someone shouts “Flatten him!” – even if it comes from the bench. And always use precise phrasing: “I saw that…” That way you stick to the facts. I’m a man of action, not words. I sometimes run into a problem and realize that I could have anticipated it. I teach my trainees that there are four phases: observation, interpretation, decision and action. In my job at WUR and in daily life, I tend to go into action a bit too quickly.’
