TOP FOOTBALL REF MATT MESSIAS & DEVONGOLF JUNIOR BOYS

It looked for all the world like back to school for the DevonGolf juniors. Whilst the sun shone on glorious Woodbury Park Golf Club, the DevonGolf junior boys were sitting down to a lecture from Matt Messias. Boring? Not at all!

Google Matt Messias (visit website) and you will find a plethora of information about him. Spend a few minutes in his company and you realise you are in the company of a very strong man, mentally and physically. Matt wanted to be a footballer but, by the age of 16, realised he wasn't talented enough. Time to rethink the plan and he did. He became a football referee of international reknown, visiting 35 countries throughout his career - the referee in charge at legendary stadiums, of teams and players. Now that's pressure! Matt talked about such pressures and how they can lead to mistakes - and how he dealt with one monumental error in a massive game. It raised a smile from everyone and not a little admiration on how he did it. But this was not just chat, this was showing our lucky juniors how pressure can affect them and how they can use it as a good thing. You have to take the words seriously of a man who has made huge decisions in the space of seconds, under the watchful eye of some 50,000 spectators in the stadium and many, many millions more watching on televisions around the world.

It was an interactive session, everyone has their own goals, strengths and weaknesses. If you don't have a dream, how will you know when you've achieved it? Look confident even if you don't feel it because you soon will. That confidence may well impact the other players. If you make a mistake, deal with it quickly. Tiger Woods takes 10 angry paces, controls his breathing and moves onto the next shot. Focus on the next shot, you can only play one shot at a time. Visualise the shot you want to play, not the shot that might go in the bunker or might go in the lake - because then it just might do that. Visualise the outcome you want and you can get it.

It became apparent to the enraptured audience that practice doesn't just mean hitting balls. Practicing your mental skills, harnessing the undoubted power that will give you, can be just as important. Matt Messias was an inspiration and DevonGolf and the juniors thank him for his expertise and time.

After "school" the boys went back to the glorious facilities of Woodbury Park Golf Club for a putting lesson, an ideal opportunity to practice those visualisation skills. DevonGolf continues to be very grateful to Woodbury Park Golf Club for their continued support for all the DevonGolf teams.

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