Local FIBA Referees’ Pre-Certification Clinic was compromised

Feb 15, 2012 Sports

– None of the participants ready for accreditation- report reveals

By Edison Jefford

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Referees’ Pre-Certification Clinic that was held in Guyana last April was compromised owed to poor attendance and a lack of holistic awareness from the participants an Instructor’s Report has revealed.
FIBA Referees’ Instructor, Glyne Clarke, in his report to the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Secretary General made the revelations relative to the April 10-14 Clinic. Clarke believed that the course may have missed its intended target in key sessions.
“Due to the officials being unable to attend the Clinic during the day due to work commitments, the Clinic Schedule was adjusted to suit the participants, (and) for this reason, the course outline was somewhat compromised as we were forced to cancel the Saturday morning sessions, which included critical Court Craft and discussion(s) of rule interpretation,” Clarke said in his report to CBC Secretary General, Sabrina Mitchell.
He mentioned that “the attendees included primarily desk officials and junior referees,” that gave the impression that the Clinic missed its intended audience since it was a FIBA Pre-Certification Clinic aimed at piloting more local referees toward FIBA Referees’ accreditation.
“The programme, as mentioned, was compromised and attendance fluctuated. Again few coaches were in attendance, which would have helped to share and disseminate information, and facilitate a common understanding of the rules, rule changes and rules interpretations,” Clarke noted in his brief report on the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) initiative.
Continuing to build his case on the compromising factors of the Clinic, Clarke reported that there was an absence of a structured game, which undermined his intentions of evaluating the officials, who participated in the event. In addition, he said that the result from the fitness and written tests were not encouraging; he blamed this on the participants’ lack of preparation.
However, he did mention that all the information about the clinic was forward to the GABF prior to its commencement. In his recommendations, he stated that a lack of communication between the federation and the intended participants could have caused the poor results.
“We completed the fitness test prior to the evaluation and four (4) persons passed. Results of the written test were not encouraging, but this may have been due to the limited time the participants would have been exposed to the rules discussion,” Clarke supposed.
“In my opinion, none of the referees attending the clinic were ready for FIBA certification,” the FIBA Instructor concluded, adding that there must be organised games with the requisite level to help bring referees up to the international standards.
Meanwhile, President of the GABF, David Patterson indicated in a circular yesterday that he has requested another Pre-Certification Referees’ Clinic for Guyana, which is perhaps based on what can be easily called the poor results emanating from the 2011 Clinic.