Open angle | Basketball New Zealand Referee Update

Issue 12: 25 May 2023

REFEREES AND TRAINERS RECOGNISED AT THE BBNZ AWARDS

Several referees and trainers were celebrated for their contribution to the game at the annual Basketball New Zealand Awards, held at the Pipitea Marae and Function Centre in Wellington on 6 May, which recognise excellence and achievement in basketball for the 2022 calendar year.

The awards with a referee connection went to:

Cedric Cudby Volunteer Award: Peter Marshall, Tony Eldershaw
Young Official of the Year Award: Brittney Young
Ian Goodwin Services to Officiating Award: John Zimmerman
Long Service Award: John Zimmerman (40 years), Darrel Flynn-Thompson (50 years)

Congratulations to all the award winners.

The full story on the awards is on the BBNZ website.

LEVEL 2 REFEREE COURSE

Basketball New Zealand began introducing a new pathway for referees in 2021, with the new Level 1 Referee course. The second stage in the new referee pathway is accreditation as a Level 2 Referee, which is the level that will be required to referee at national championship tournaments in future. We have now finished the development of the Level 2 Referee online course.

The training to become a Level 2 referee includes completing an online course, attending a practical workshop and passing a practical game assessment. Level 2 referees will also need to pass an annual rules test and run the FIBA fitness test annually (a pass will not be required but the level reached will be recorded).

As a transitional arrangement, we would like all referees below national league level who have been attending national tournaments in recent years to complete the online course, so that everyone comes up to speed with what is now being taught. If you would like to referee at national tournaments from this year onwards, you will need to complete the online course.

Peter Rodgers, the National Referee Instructor, has written to all the referees who have attended national tournaments in the last couple of years (except for national league referees) and asked them to do the new Level 2 Referee online course in SportTutor ahead of this year’s national tournament season.

If you have been to a national tournament in the last couple of years and would like to referee at national tournaments again for this year onwards, and you haven’t received an e-mail from Peter, please write to him at refinstructor@nz.basketball.

New referees who have recently finished the new Level 1 Referee course will become eligible to do the Level 2 Referee course once they have been refereeing for 12 months after completing all three stages of the Level 1 course (online course, practical workshop, practical game assessment).

UNDER-19 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Thanks to the following referees and trainers who have made themselves available for the AON U19 National Championships:

Technical Commissioner: John Bartlett
Trainers: Ken Coulson, Bill Eldred, Stephanie Eldred and Gavin Zimmerman
Referees: Aimee-Jo Clark, Austin Smart, Blake Rosanowski, Ben McLauchlan, Codey Montgomerie, Elijah Mareko, Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson, Hamish Dale, Janryll Fernandez, Jayden Rosanowski, Kirsty Howatson, Kobe Lucas, Leo Shaw, Mikayla Ludlow, Nathan Buchanan, Nick Choi, Ramir Padlan, Reagan Ashley, Richard Kenny, Rikailo Ngatai-Rimene, Russell Gavin, Tamatea Bennett, Toni Smith-Hunwick, Trinity Hart, Tyler Radbourne, Wayne Russell

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

We are seeking expressions of interest for referees to attend the following:

AON U17 Nationals, 4 – 7 July in Wellington (please note this tournament is Tuesday to Friday, as opposed to the usual Wednesday-Saturday).
AON U15 Nationals, 12 – 15 July in Auckland.

If you are interested in attending either of these, please e-mail: referees@nz.basketball

FIBA 3X3 OFFICIATING CLINIC

Hamish Dale and Toni Smith-Hunwick have been selected to attend a 3x3 officiating clinic being run by FIBA on 22 – 25 June in Handan, China, to be held in conjunction with a tournament on the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League 2023 - U21 Asia-Pacific tour.

INTERNATIONAL APPOINTMENTS

New Zealand referees have been selected by FIBA for a number of international events this year, including world, Asia and Oceania events. Here is a list of the appointments so far:

FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, Australia, 26 June – 2 July: Ryan Jones, Callum Welch
FIBA Asia U16 Women’s Championship, Jordan, 10 – 16 July: Sasha Nicholson
FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup, Spain, 15 – 23 July: Marty Davison
FIBA Asia U16 Men’s Championships, Qatar, 17 – 24 September: Sherhon Martin
FIBA Oceania U17 Championships, Papua New Guinea, 1 – 8 October: Toni Smith-Hunwick
Pacific Games, Solomon Islands, 19 November – 3 December: Sam Pan, Tayla Ammunson

Congratulations to all the referees selected and we look forward to hearing of their experiences.

2023 REFEREE AND TRAINER REGISTRATIONS

We’re into a new year so it’s time to re-register in BBNZ’s database of referees and referee trainers. As well as providing us with your up-to-date contact details, allowing us to communicate to you with important information relating to refereeing (including this newsletter), we will be using this database to keep a record of where you are in the referee or trainer pathway. It also helps us get a picture of how many referees and trainers we have around the country.

Registration is a simple matter of following the link below and either checking your details or creating an account if you have not registered before.

To complete your registration for 2023, please click here.

You can check and update your details at any time later by going to members.nz.basketball and logging in with the same e-mail and password.

WEBINARS FROM FIBA

FIBA regularly organises webinars on various topics relating to refereeing. These are held on the first Monday of each month at 4:00pm central European time. This is not a good time for us but the good news is that the webinars are recorded and the recordings are available via the FIBA iRef Academy Library App.

Recent topics have included: expectations from high-level referees, simple steps to better calls, injury prevention and recovery, body language. There are many other recordings available going back to 2021.

To get these recordings, open the iRef Library app and go to the “Monday special” section.

If you don’t have the iRef app, download it from the link below.

REFEREE TECHNIQUE FOCUS:
Warning whistle

There are some situations when we are re-starting the game after a longer stoppage and the referee administering the throw-in needs to blow the whistle to alert the players that we are about to start again. This warning whistle is also needed before the jump-ball to start the game.

A mechanics change that came along with the latest rule changes introduced a new situation needing a warning whistle. We now blow the whistle before bouncing the ball to the thrower-in after a time-out.

So now we have the following situations when we blow a warning whistle:

Prior to crew chief entering the centre circle for the opening toss.
Prior to ball being placed at the disposal of the thrower-in at the start of each new quarter or overtime.
Prior to ball being placed at the disposal of the thrower-in on a frontcourt endline throw-in.
Prior to ball being placed at the disposal of the thrower-in to restart the game after a time-out.

RULES QUIZ

Test yourself with these questions on the rule changes that came into effect this year. Don’t forget that there is important information on the new rules on the BBNZ website.

With 0:51 left in the fourth quarter, A1 has the ball for a throw-in from out-of-bounds when B2 causes contact on A3 that would meet the criteria for an unsportsmanlike foul. Should the referee call this an unsportsmanlike foul or a throw-in foul?
With 0:48 left in the fourth quarter, A1 has the ball for a throw-in from out-of-bounds. After the ball has left A1’s hands on the throw-in pass, but before A2 catches the ball, B3 is called for a foul for contact while trying to guard A4 in a normal basketball play. What sort of foul should the referee call?
(a)   An unsportsmanlike foul
(b)   A throw-in foul
(c)   An ordinary personal foul
A1 passes the ball from the backcourt to A2, who is in the front court progressing towards the opponents’ basket with no Team B players between A2 and the basket. A2 jumps in the air and, before catching the ball, is contacted from behind by B3. Should the referee call an unsportsmanlike foul?
A1 is holding the ball in the back court. A2 in the front court progressing towards the opponents’ basket with no Team B players between A2 and the basket. Before A1 releases the ball on a pass to A2, B3 contacts A2 from behind. Should the referee call an unsportsmanlike foul?
What does this signal mean?

Rules quiz answers

An unsportsmanlike foul. Even though this foul is during a throw-in in the last two minutes, one of the unsportsmanlike foul criteria applies. – Ints 34-1, 34-7
(c) An ordinary personal foul. Since the ball has been released on the inbounds pass, this is no longer a throw-in foul, and it is not an unsportsmanlike foul after the recent rule change. – Art 34.1.2; Int 34-10
Yes. Because the ball is being passed to A2, the criteria for an unsportsmanlike foul are met. – Art 37.1.1; Int 37-5
No. Since A2 does not have the ball, is not attempting to gain control of the ball and is not being passed the ball, none of the criteria for an unsportsmanlike foul are met. – Arts 37.1.1; Int 37-6
Goaltending or basket interference

Note: The interpretations references are for the new updated document published after the latest rule changes, available in the FIBA iRef Academy Library app and on the BBNZ website.