“Praying before a game” – Rodric Leerling

I had noticed it once in a while before the start of professional football games – players praying muslim style. This weekend two players were openly praying at the start of both game halves of my U16 game in Amsterdam. I respect that but wonder what the intention is.

I don’t know what they are praying for but surely not to win the game. In the opponent team there appeared to be also muslims. At least I noticed a few times one of the muslim players admonishing an opponent and calling him “brother” when a possible conflict arose. Not sure how he recognized him and if he appreciated this at all.

Well, I assume the prayer has saved me corrective talks and yellow cards. I eventually had to show a yellow card, but not to a muslim player. At least, this player had not been praying and wasn’t called ‘brother’. Next time I will need to find out what the prayer topic really is. It might come handy when needed to calm down players. I will recommend them also to start with prayer in future and tell me what it all means to me as referee.

“I love networking” – Rodric Leerling

Even with today’s social media tools all switched on, freelancers still need to meet and speak to people in person. At least once a month, half a day of meetings works best for me. Listening how others are doing, pick up new ideas, connect with other people or get introduced.

It happened to me yesterday and it felt great, as always. After a quick update on my status, I shared a new business idea with my first business friend and got some constructive feedback. He offered me a publishing project to run. Another network partner shared a great new social media concept. Confidential, so it wil stay that way, no need for an NDA. An on-the-spot brainstorm lead to the invitation to take on the business development in my international network.

I then met a business friend whom I could ask for an offer to develop an publishing app for another partner. To finish off with a former colleague for a drink, gossip a little about our latest project, and return encouraged with ideas to brood on. At home, I started connecting to new LinkedIn company sites, following new Tweeps and responding to the business proposals. Making choices soon. Stay tuned.