Hi fellow refs!
This weekend I have been given 4 games to referee. 2 on the Saturday -under 11's and 2 on sunday- one under 13's and the other under 14's.
Would you say this is too much to referee on one weekend bearing in mind it will be over 260 minutes of football? How much do you referee in a weekend?
That's nothing. When I was refereeing in my old area, I'd be doing 4-5 games on a Saturday, combination of middles and lines, U/10 through to O/35 in the afternoon (usually 3 juniors, 2x O35, but it varies). After 2x U/18 on Fri night (1 middle, 1 line), and 3 seniors on Sunday (1x AA middle, 1x reserve grade line, 1x first grade centre, though that varies). And we didn't use CAR's - I might have a NAR or two, or might have nothing. Also, the Australian winter is hotter than your summer is ;-)
Now, I'd say that is too much - but you handle it by pacing yourself. Sure, it means you may run less than you'd like to , but that's rarely actually a problem if you're pre-empting play.
the ages groups you're talking about don't require a great deal of running unless they're really, really high level. Heck, even if we were appointed to the state league (representative) level games, it would usually be a middle and 2 lines or so.
Unless you have particular fitness concerns I'd say you should be able to handles those games without any problems. Just warm up, warm down, and remain hydrated.