Dommerbloggen

Here comes a little update from what has been happening here during the game days.

As we mentioned in the previous blog, games started on Friday. Players age group differed from 2001 to ’95-’96, both girls and boys. In other words, games all day starting from 08:00 am. Every referee had 3-4 games a day. Instructors observed us, and gave feedback during and after the game.

We would guess that, if a coach comes to thank the officials for the game at the end, and he is shaking hands to the refereecrew of the next game, means you did a good job on the court? 🙂

Feedback from instructors was mainly regarding to 3PO. Some had their first game in 3 person officiating, some had been doing it for years. We were discussing it with a lot of referees, and we concluded that referees in Norway are very lucky to have 3PO in 3 national league+ some NM tournaments.

«Practice is the best of all instructors.» Publilius Syrus

Friday, instructors nominated women crews and men crews for the games.

They made short clips during the games. Sometimes they showed it to us in the halftime break, pointing out 2 things to work on for the next two quarters.

Evening meetings started quite late.

The referee group got an overall feedback, things to improve on, until the next day. Teaching clips with «superstars» weren’t missing either.

Tennaz had her birthday on Friday. Not that often happenes, that you get to celebrate your birthday with Costas Rigas + 140 referees together with more than 20 instructors singing «Happy birthday», right? 🙂 And yeah, the cake wasn’t missing either.

After this happening, we had a short meeting with the «Female Referee Clinic» intructors.

Saturday, beside the games, we had a presentation by Olegs Latisevs. «Practical advices for referees.»: Communication, psychology, signals, image(presentation as a referee), education, personality(how to build), preparation for the game(receiving the nomination), reparation for the game(on the game day) were the topics he was talking about. He gave us some ideas from his experience, how he prepared for the Olympic Games for example.

Saturday evening, meeting started from 22:30 too. After the general feedback and teaching clips with the «heroes», the women referees had their own meeting aswell. Instructors gave out some prizes for us referees: «Rookie of the tournament», «Most improved referee», etc.

Sunday and Monday were the days for the finals. We got to referee quarterfinals and semifinals. Exciting games. Specially, if the home team is playing and at one point, you have to stop the game because of the spectators entering the court to express their «opinion»…

We learned a lot, and for sure we return back to Norway as better referees!

Scania Cup 2014 countdown began…

I know we can’t compete with the Polish referees in number (43 participants this year..), but I honestly hope more Norwegian referees will join the tournament in 2014!

Tennaz and Vicky are (b)logging off now.. 🙂

The two «Norwegian» referees arrived safely to Sodertalje to attend the unofficial Nordic Championship.

27th of March was the first day of the clinic. «Welcome speach» started at 18:00 with the host, Lahdo Sharro. He was presenting all the instructors in front of 140 entusiastic referees.

It is worth mentioning that this year, 40 female officials are attending Scania Camp and the Women Referee Clinic. Alison Muir from England, Åsa Johansson from Sweden, Chantal Julien from France and Ilona Kucerova from Czech Republic are mainly responsible as instructors for the Women Referee Clinic.

Other instructors at the camp are the following:

Director of Euroleague referees Costas Rigas, Romualdas Brazauskas from Lithuania, Olegs Latisevs from Latvia, Mick Howell from England, Alex Syryca from Belarus, Alexander Fassen from Holland, Michel Glod from Luxembourg, Gjorgi Piperkov from Macedonia, Krzysztof Koralewski from Poland, Apostolos Kalpakas and Lars Klaar from Sweden and Buluc Yalcin from Turkey.

The participants had lectures with Costas Rigas and Lars Klaar, as well as with Romualdas Brazauskas during Wednesday and Thursday. We all had a brief introduction to the pre-game conference, three person officiating, accent being on areas of coverage by lead, center and trail.

«The purpose of a good pre-game conference is to understand how officials can help each other«

– R. Brazauskas

First day, after deviding the referee crowd into 14 groups, we received a rules test and English test from one of the instructors. Each group had 12 hours to answer the questions.

Friday is the first day for the games.

It is past midnight here in Södertälje… So Tennaz and Vicky are logging off now..:)

To be continued…

This year´s clinic for FIBA Referee Candidates in Europe
was organised in Sakarya, Turkey between February 1st to 9th. Sakarya
is a city and province of the same name in Turkey located on the coast of the Black
Sea.

12 national teams from Argentina, France, Greece,
Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey, China, Germany, Latvia, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine, as
well as 30 referee candidates (representing 29 countries) were ready for the
annual TBF International U16 Tournament for Men.

Participants at the clinic arrived on the 31st of
January. A 2 hour journey between Istanbul and Sakarya ended up in 3,5 hour,
due to an unbelievable traffic jam.

Once arrived to the hotel it was time to meet the
candidates from other countries, so as some of the instructors. Alan Richardson
was the one greeting us in the lobby. It was nice to recognize a lot of known
faces from Scania Cup, Alan Richardson’s CanDo Summer Camp and also the
candidate from my home country, Romania.

Instructors at the clinic were: Miguel Betancor (Head of
Operations), Alan Richardson (from Fiba Europe Referee Department), Richard
Stokes (Head of Fiba Europes Competitions and Referee Department) and Chantal
Julien, FIBA instructor from France. During the week we also had a presentation
by the well known former Euroleague top referee, Carl Jungebrand, as well as
from FIBA Europe’s Secretary General, Kamil Novak.

The next morning (01.02.13), starting from 08:45, 30
referees were ready for the obligatory fitness test which was held in the main
gym of Ataturk Arena. Everybody succesfully passed.

Shortly after arriving back to the hotel we had an
opening presentation, introductions and orientation, so as the nominations for
Day 1.

I was nominated to referee Slovenia vs Greece in Lufti
Yaman gym together with Kfir Mualem from Israel and Alexander Romanov from
Russia. It was a great game, we had very
good teamwork. (I could strongly state that «teamwork» was the word
we heard the most during this clinic.) Sometimes we had a feeling that
instructors were testing our «team spirit», either in a direct or
indirect way. We helped each other as a group, and nobody failed this
«exam».

There were 6 games every day starting from 15:00, 3 in
Ataturk Arena and 3 in Lufti Yaman Arena, just some minutes walk from the main
hall. All the games were filmed and the instructors also made short teaching
clips during the game.

There was no direct feedback after the officiated games,
but there was possibility to ask for one.

Our mornings started with a 10 o’clock lecture. The
instructors presented some clips from the games the previous day, pointing out
some things they thought we should work on for the next game.

Feedback from the first day was mainly regarding to
mechanics with an interesting comparison to lead and trail official: lead is
the «pointguard» of the officiating team and trail is the best
defensive «player», they told us.

Miguel Betancor analyzed some play situations, and his
main feedback to us was regarding our attitude on the court (showing authority,
not power), dead ball officiating, game management, teamwork and communication.

12 referees were «stand-by» the first day so
they got the priority to officiate the next day. Some of us had the day off.

The next morning (Day 3), as usual, instructors started
with feedback from the teaching clips of Day 2: criteria for general contacts-
not calling marginal ones which have no effect on the game (or on: SBRQ: speed,
balance, rhythm, quickness). It was mentioned the criteria for
unsportsmanlike/»tactical» fouls as well.

Day 4’s lecture started with a review of game clips and
it continued with Alan Richardson presentation about managing mistakes, the
important role of self control and concentration.

Nominations for this day came, and I was really happy to
officiate Argentina against Germany together with our collegue from Sweden,
Saulius Racys and with Milosav Kaludjerovic from Montenegro. We were almost
100% sure that there will be «some» clips shown the next morning,
considering the intensity of the game.

So did day 5s meeting start. All the clips, they took out
from games, were to make us understand their point of view regarding to
different situations, mechanics, criteria used in the game, and learn from
(your) others mistake.

Later on we had presentations by Carl Jungebrand and Alan
Richardson, about how officials should keep their standards game after game,
with a best state of mind (Trustful, decisive and tranquil). Also how important
game management is, especially in dead ball situations.

«Management is doing things right, leadership is
doing the right things.» – Peter Drucker.

Wednesday, all instructors, officials, organizers and
teams had the day off. We spent a nice afternoon beside a lake nearby with a
delicious barbeque. We also had the opportunity for a little
«tourist-tour» in the city center.

Since I didn’t referee on Tuesday, I was hoping to get
the chance to do it on Thursday, when the quarter finals began. Morning meeting
started with a short presentation about teamwork and «Nunn’s nine play
situations for lead, trail and center».

Nominations for the quarter finals came. I got the chance
to referee Latvia vs. Germany with Boris Krejic from Slovenia and Vasiliki Tsaroucha
from Greece, a game where Germany was consistently dominating and at the end
won by 22 points.

Friday was another test day for the FIBA-candidates, with
English and rules test on our «breakfast menu». I felt confident that
both of them went ok.

After the tests and the review of the teaching clips from
the previous day, we had a presentation by Miguel Betancor, «Hardware vs
Software». Personally I really liked this lecture. He talked about all the
qualities an official should have, how we should educate ourselves and our
whistle continuously.

I personally didn’t have any game that day, but we all
stayed in the gym to watch our colleagues in the semi-finals. Later that day we
got to know the nominations for the next day finals.

It was probably the most rewarding feeling from the whole
clinic to see my name listed among the officials to ref the final between
Greece and Serbia. Fernando Calatrava Cuevas from Spain and Manuel Mazzoni from
Italy were my co-officials.

I could say that for me it was the best game of the
tournament. Great collegues=great game. Simple as it was. 🙂

After the game, all our colleagues came into the locker
room to congratulate us. This was probably THE moment of the (post)game.

The next day was departure day for all of us, so it was
time for a little social event in the evening. With Alan Richardson, if not
karaoke, singing is on the «playlist». Everybody sang in his/her
mother tongue, and for sure it was the best way to end an intense, stressful
tournament/clinic in Turkey.

Last but not least, I would like to thank DK, NBBF and
all the people that helped me ever since I started officiating in Norway. The list
is very long, I have to say… 🙂

It was an honor to be there! And a great triumph to have passed as a FIBA-referee. 🙂

After more then 10 hour travelling I arrived safe to Sofia. Together with our collegues from Russia, we were transported to the accomodation place, Hotel Ela Borovets.

Borovets is considered as the pride of Samokov (city situated just outside Sofia), very popular, world famous ski resort.

More than 50 referees, from all around the world were ready for the 19th Nationwide European Basketball Referees Camp.

Instructors at the camp were: Alan Richardson (Camp Director), Shay Shtriks (BIBL Sports Director), Valentin Lazarov (FIBA Instructor), Kamen Toshev (FIBA instructor), Davorin Nakic (FIBA instructor), Giorgi Piperkov (FIBA instructor), Mansour Al Ahmari (FIBA instructor), Stelios Koukoulekidis (Instructor) and Leonid Chudin (Instructor).

We officiated the Bulgarian U16 National Championship. Our mornings started with a meeting. On the first lecture they focused on 3 person officiating: couraging lead to rotate with energy, center to more double coverage and double calls and trail to avoid the «coffe shop».

They emphasized the importance of using only FIBA signals. Individual signals are considered to be bad habbits.

There were 6 games a day, 3 in a school gym and 3 in the Arena Sports Hall.

Each game was officiated by 6 referees. All 6 attended the pre-game conference, and of course all of them watched the whole game. Seeing the game from the sideline and then jumping in to referee was a quite interesting experience.

Two instructors observed the game. They had the liberty to talk to us during a time-out, between the periods or from the sideline during the game. Most of the feedback came of course after we’d officiated two quarters.

Sometimes referees got extra challenges. They told us: «once you went into the fire, you have to go back». I could say I had my share in this and came out alive.

Also interesting to experience when on a postgame debrief, the instructors told us exactly what we felt in some of the «hot» situations.

The next days in the morning sessions each instructor summarized his impression regarding the officiating, team-chemistry, team-work and not to mention if the referees followed and accomplished the demanded «tasks» from the previous session. «One referee can’t make a team but one referee can destroy the team».

Best compliment we got from one of the instructor was when after the game he asked us if we come from the same country.

The teaching clips with «superstars» of the previous day games weren’t missing either.

On Wednesday and Thursday we had an extra 2 hour practical session about 3PO with some of the instructors. Each instructor used separate ways of showing practically what 3PO consists about. The instructor from Saudi Arabia let us play 5 on 5, full speed, and the three referees had to officiate like in a real game. Personally, I liked these kind of sessions the most.

Stelios Koukoulekidis, one great instructor from Greece in his 3PO practical session:

The presentation of the week, which impressed every one of us, was by Mr. Valentin Lazarov: «Erudition of the officials in the field of psychology». («Act as a hand of steel in a velvet glove»; «Be realistic and not literalistic in applying the rules» V. Lazarov)

The instructors were very satisfied with the level of officiating and the progress of the referees during this tournament. Mansour Al Ahmari, instructor from Saudi Arabia called us «high-levelled witnesses».

In the evening it was time for some social events, such as table-tennis. It is still amazing how 20 people can manage to play at the same time with only 4 rackets. Possible solution: improvising the rackets from their hand, flip-flop, iPhones, or any useful object from the room.

Last evening we had a closing ceremony with some presentations, Top10 Heroes of the teaching clips, a brief summary after which everyone of us received a certify from the camp director, Alan Richardson.

After dinner, as the «CanDo tradition» required, it was time for some karaoke.

I learned a lot from this camp. I think the biggest challenge for all of us was finding tools to work together in a team with people from different countries, different cultures, sometimes with little English knowledge.

As one of my friend said, we learned a lot from the lectures, instructors feedback, our mistakes, others mistakes..but most importantly we learned from each other.

«One world, one game, one family..»

Last but not least I would like to thank DK and NBBF for this opportunity.

Mvh,

Vicky

Dag to er over og vi er nå halveis i Scania Cup 2012. Så lang har alt godt bra og den norske delegasjonen er veldig førnøyd med sakene så langt.

Til stede er instruktører fra hele Europa, og alle har fått tilbakemeldinger på dømmingen sin. Det er instruktører i hver hall og alle har de meget høy kompetanse.

Hver kveld er det oppsummering med videoklipp fra kampene og så lang har ingen fra den norske delegasjonen blitt «latterliggjørt» foran resten av dommerstanden.

Den kvinnelige delen av de tilstedeverende dommerne er så heldige å få spesialoppfølgning med ekstra filming og egne møter i tillegg til det obligatoriske. Etter tilbakemeldingene vi har fått har dette vært særlig lærerikt for de tre dommerne som er med fra det norske jentedommerprosjektet.

Fokuset så langt har vært på mekanikk og hvordan dommerlaget fungerer i praksisk. Laget er aldri bedre enn det svakeste ledd.

Turneringen nærmer seg slutten og nivået på kampene tilspisser seg. Sluttspillet har nettopp startet og da er det veldig morsomt å se at Tennaz har fått med seg en kvartfinale i jenter U18.

Hva som venter i de kommende dagene blir spennende å se. Vi holder dere oppdatert og kommer tilbake med mer informasjon.

V 😉

The final for ’95 girls started at 12:30 p.m. in Taljehallen. The local team, SBBK, met Hjemly from Denmark. The gym was quite crowded, so it was a nice atmosphere to start the game.

The referee crew for this game was: Kate Webb from England as «crew-chief», Irina Konan from Belarus and me. Luigi Lamonica was observing the game.
With a preventive communication with players and coaches we had a well controlled game I think. We had good team-work, not that many mistakes in mechanics but the most important thing was that we had fun.
Final score: SBBK-Hjemly 49-44. (I period:15-12; II:12-11; III:9-12; IV:13-9).
Feedback from Luigi was more regarded to the «lead» position. But, overall he said we did a good job.

Organizers, coaches and instructors thought the performance of the referees at this tournament probably was the best they had seen so far.

Alison Muir, Ilona Kucerova and Åsa Johansson, leaders for the «women referee clinic», made this tournament special for us girls.

Full of energy and motivation I’m looking forward to Scania Cup 2012!

Mvh,
V.