Dommerbloggen

Friday was the longest day from this tournament, having 4 games. My new crew (Irina Konan from Belarus as «crew-chief» and Arek Bitman from Poland) had the first game at 08:20 a.m. We had two games in a row, girls ’96 in a gym called Grondal.

Games went OK, we had some difficulties with mechanics, but overall I liked this crew much better then the day before. All the three of us had officiated in three-person before, so it was a little bit easier.

This gym was crowded by enthusiastic parents even though it was an early morning game, so it was definitely a nice atmosphere to start the day.

We had two afternoon games, girls ’97, starting from 13:30. In our second game Lars Klaar was our observer. Even though our concentration wasn’t that sharp as in the beginning of the day, I felt that we could keep the game in our hands. We worked good in mechanics. The level of the contacts we allowed in the game wasn’t the same. We had the same criteria for contact with Irina but Arek a different one.

At 7 p.m we had a «lecture» with Luigi Lamonica. It wasn’t a power point presentation, it was more like an open conversation, a little look «behind the scenes».

My Saturday’s crew members were Adalsteinn Hjartarson from Switzerland, who just gained his FIBA license back, and Arek Bitman from Poland again. We had three games this day, two in Ostertalje gym (boys ’99 and girls ’97) and one quarterfinal in Vestergard gym (girls ’97). We had very nice games, and the team-work was also good. In the quarterfinal Åsa Johanson was observing us.

Evening meeting started at 23:00. After some clips about the «superstars of the day», it was time for the nominations for the finals. I got the ’95 girls final together with Kate Webb from England and Irina Konan from Belarus. I’m really looking forward to it!

I will return soon with more details.
V.

Arrival to Stockholm and then to Södertälje was without any problem.

Once at the hotel we find out, that Richard Stokes will keep his «lecture» in Taljehallen about three-person officiating, and that we had half an hour to get there.

After dinner, followed by a lecture starting from 22:30, it was time for the nominations. My crew members were Maciej Bannach from Poland, also «crew-chief», and Diamantis Kokouvinos from Sweden.

First day of the games was Thursday. Some of the officials had three games this day, but my crew had two in a row in Brunnsang gym. We officiated Girls’98 games. Both of these games were even. First game BC NOKIA vs SBBK with a score of 33-26, second Sisu vs Huima 40-37.

During these games we were observed by Alison Muir from England. She is also one of the leaders for the «women referee clinic» in this tournament. They will make sure that after this tournament everyone of us will get a DVD with one of our games, plus mentioning two things we did good during and one we should work on.

And finally! I wasn’t a rookie, Diamantis had his first game in three-person officiating, but I think he did a great job. We had a good crew, worked good as a team.

First game, second half we had a «concentration colapse», but then in the second game we could get it back. We had a good post-game feeling, and Alison congratulated us too for the team-work.

Thursday ended with a meeting with play situations and «heroes of the day». Forgot to mention that there are 24 commisioners here to observe the games, and that the cost of the triple whistle, technical foul and overtime is beer to every one of them.

But, so far so good!

Friday, new crew, 4 games, looking forward to it!

«To be continued…»

V.