Referees gear up for new season at clinic
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 A total of 120 referees and observers gathered in Istanbul this week for what has become an important preseason tradition, the 20th Clinic for Euroleague Basketball-FIBA Europe International Referees. The three-day clinic was conducted by the Euroleague Basketball refereeing department with the goal of reviewing lessons learned from the previous season and discussing the points of emphasis designed to help Europe’s best referees prepare for the new 2011-12 Turkish Airlines Euroleague and Eurocup seasons. Sessions were both theoretical and hands on, with referees meeting in conference rooms and also taking to the court to work on game-specific situations.
Presentations were made by the Euroleague Basketball Referees Commission as well as a number of special guests. Head coach Ilias Zouros of Zalgiris Kaunas spoke about game-specific situations, including managing screens offensively and defensively. Nutritionist Buket Mamur spoke about the importance of nutrition for the physical fitness of basketball referees. And psychologist Rinalda Germaniene spoke about the psychological qualities of a good referee.
The clinic came on the heels of the annual meeting between the Euroleague Basketball refereeing department and head coaches, which took place Wednesday. Euroleague Director of Referees Costas Rigas was able to brief the referees on the meeting and to discuss how best to learn from the head coaches’ feedback.
"With the referees we discussed two main topics about which we had already agreed with the coaches," Rigas said. "One was body contact, including hand-checking and post play, and this season referees will be more strict to help clean up the game, improve the show and meet the intent of the rules. The other was the behavior of players and coaches, and particularly fair and correct communication between everyone on the court. Sportsmanship is the goal and the coaches agree wholeheartedly. Beginning with the qualifying rounds next week, the referees will treat any behavior damaging the image of the competition and basketball itself very severely."
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
Euroleague.net
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