Local referees to benefit from FIBA licensing programme by year-end

Sep 15, 2017 Sports

On Wednesday, Kaieteur Sport reported that lack of officials had been one of the pitfalls of the 2017 season of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association’s (GABA)/Banks DIH leagues thus far, as stated by coach of Pacesetters, Clement Brusch. Brusch indicated that many former players have expressed interest in being trained in officiating and had challenged the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) to facilitate this.
President of the GABF, Nigel Hinds, shared the exciting news during an interview with Kaieteur Sport yesterday, of Guyana being afforded the opportunity to have within their manpower, International Basketball Federation (FIBA) certified officials. The referee and match commissioner certifying programme has been tentatively set to be held in Guyana this November but Hinds explained that, “The Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) has a meeting in Barbados tomorrow, where the date for the programme will be decided, since other Member Countries will want the opportunity to benefit from the programme.” Patrick Haynes, GABF’s International General Secretary will be representing Guyana at that meeting. In addition, neighbouring Suriname is set to host the CBC Male and Female Championships in July 2018 and the Dutch speaking country will be one of the more eager countries to send officials to Guyana for the certification seminar.
Currently, the Guyana Basketball Officials Council has a meager eight (8) active referees, according to President of the organization, Dexter Douglas. Douglas stated that he will be doing outreach programmes in Kwakwani and Berbice during October to prepare prospective referees for the upcoming FIBA certification seminar this year-end which will be conducted by Referee Manager of FIBA Americas, Geraldo Fontana. When quizzed on the opportunities for potential referees in Georgetown, Douglas posited, “I have sent letters to clubs and GABA many times in the past and the feedback was never positive, so in the short term I will be engaging persons in the more rural areas.”
The FIBA official certification exam can only be written by persons in the age range 25-35 years old but head of the GABF, Hinds, stated that, “Local referees who aren’t the required age will take part in the programme although not being afforded the opportunity to write the exam. This will serve as a means to improve the level of local match officiating.”

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