Dommerbloggen

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

Sittende på en takterrasse i Istanbul føler man seg nesten litt «on top of the world», og med utsikt over en by som strekker seg fra Europa til Asia blir det en følelse av internasjonal stemning i luften.

Årets tur til Euroleague Final Four er sesongens høydepunkt, og de som ennå ikke har vært tilstede på dette arrangementet bør begynne å planlegge neste års tur nå. I mai 2013 går sluttspillet i London, en by som også byr på andre turistmål enn basketball innendørs.

Sammen med ca 15 000 andre basketfans har vi vært i Sinan Erdem Arena her i Istanbul, en skikkelig romslig hall som til tross for størrelsen likevel er passe intim i forhold til kampene. Det gjorde selvfølgelig ingenting at våre billetter ga oss plasser et hakk nærmere parketten enn tidligere år.

Det var skikkelig stemning i hallen under begge semifinalene, takket være greske lag og tilskuere var det som det skal være i et sluttspill der Europas beste lag deltar. Men det hadde vært helt topp dersom grekerne hadde latt sigarettpakkene være igjen hjemme. Utover kvelden viste det seg nemlig at de kunne omtrent like mye om hallens røykelov som om spillereglene i basketball.

Det var veldig interessant å se Luigi Lamonica og Carl Jungebrand som crew chiefer i hver sin semifinale, begge hadde bra kontroll og nøt også stor respekt hos begge lags spillere og coacher. Hvem av dem som får finalen i kveld blir ikke lett å gjette.

Hvem som vinner av CSKA Moskva og Olympiaco er også usikkert, men basert på det jeg så fredag kveld vil jeg holde en liten knapp på de rødhvite grekerne. Deres mannskap og intense innstilling vil kunne male i stykker det russiske laget når det virkelig gjelder. Og på tribunen har ikke den lille delegasjonen med russere en sjanse mot den massive Olympiacos-gjengen.

Før det blir action i kveld får man nyte en avslappet søndag, med godt over 20 varmegrader og en by full av fine cafeer blir det ikke så vanskelig. Istanbul var en svært positiv overraskelse.

Tirsdag 7. juni fosset regnet ned i Oslo, og det var derfor med en god følelse at kursen ble satt mot dommercampen i Varna, en havneby i Bulgaria. Det finnes ingen dirkete forbindelser mellom Oslo og Varna, så reiseplanene våre medførte en stopp i Tyskland og en i Sofia, hvor et lite fly skulle frakte oss til målet.

Grunnet bytte av flyselskap, måtte bagasjen sjekkes inn på nytt i Sofia, noe som skulle gå problemfritt om bagasjen hadde kommet frem på båndet. Men Filips bagasje ble nemlig borte, og vi fikk dermed slått i hjel litt tid på et kontor på flyplassen mens vi ventet på neste fly. Heldigvis hadde Filip pakket dommertøyet i håndbagasjen, og var på den måten forberedt til første oppdrag. Det viste seg at det skulle ta noen dager før bagasjen kom, og den faglige dommerturen ble med ett kombinert med litt shopping.

Alan Richardson er hovedansvarlig for campen og hadde med seg 6 andre intruktører: Shay Shtriks, Mansour Al Ahmari, Valentin Lazarov, Kamen Toshev, Todd Warnick og Gjorgi Piperkov. Kvaliteten på instruktørene var god, og det var tydelig at samtlige 48 deltagere følte de fikk godt utbytte av campen.

Campdagene inneholdt foredrag og tilbakemeldinger hver morgen og kamper på ettermiddagen. Opptak av kampene gjorde det mulig å vise klipp fra kampene vi hadde dømt, og var det noe som ikke var som det skulle, måtte vedkommende stå skolerett foran resten av forsamlingen mens instruktørene fortalte hva som var galt.

Det var mye fokus på 3-dommer-mekanikken og de nye ansvarsområdene. Samtlige instruktører påpekte hvor viktig det er å holde seg innenfor sitt område, stole på partneren sin og se bort fra ball når man skal det. De dommerne som under campen blåste i andres områder, ble ”tvunget” til å kjøpe en flaske vin til en av instruktørene. Det er derfor ikke så rart dersom Alan eller en av de andre, kan invitere slekt og venner på mange vinkvelder den kommende tiden.

Kulturforskjellene mellom dommerne kom virkelig til syne da Sturla skulle ut i oppdrag. Den Saudi-Arabiske crew-chiefen, som også er FIBA-dommer, satt i den lille trange dommergarderoben med tactic-boardet og viste bevegelsen for dommerne mens han røykte en Marlborough sigarett.

Det var også tydelig at engelskopplæringen ikke er like god i alle land. De to japanske deltagerne ble satt ordentlig på plass av Alan på bakgrunn av sin ikke-eksisterende engelsk. Behovet for engelskkunnskaper var stort da hele 18 nasjoner var representert.

Kampene som ble dømt under oppholdet var gruppespillkamper i det bulgarske mesterskapet for U16. Selve sluttspillet skulle dømmes av en gruppe elitedommere fra Bulgaria.

Da Bulgarias DK-leder fikk høre at vi to skulle være igjen i landet noen dager, inviterte han likeså godt oss begge til å bli igjen i Varna for å dømme sluttspillet. Vi fikk hver vår semifinale og synes det var moro at forbundet her nede viste oss den tilliten. Finalen ble spilt tirsdag 14. juni med et rent bulgarsk crew.

Nå venter noen rolige dager på ”Golden Sands” før kursen settes nordover. Et hyggelig punktum for sesongen 2010/2011 er satt og vi ser begge frem til kommende sesong og nye utfordringer.

Hilsen fra Bulgaria
Filip og Sturla

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.

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.