Referee courses valuable

Press, 20 December 1988, Page 48

Referee courses valuable

By 1 Tn

BOB SCHUMACHER

Two New Zealand ice racing officials, Kelvin Nicolle and Jan Havenaar, both of Christchurch, derived valuable “learning experience” from their recent excursions to Europe.

The pair, both internationally registered referees, received financial assistance from the International Skating Union to attend refereeing courses in the Netherlands and Hungary. Mr Havenaar went to the long-track course in his native country and Mr Nicolle attended the short-track course in Budapest. “The interaction of referees, getting to know others personally and for them to know us, achieving uniformity in refereeing standards round the world were all important aspects,” Mr Nicolle, the vice-president of the Ice Racing Federation of New Zealand, said yesterday. Mr Nicolle also

received the chance for “ice training” as an international junior meeting was held in conjunction with the course. “For two days we were allocated periods on the ice acting as assistant referees. I had the feeling we were being assessed ourselves by members of the I.S.U.’s short-track technical committee which was responsible for the course.” Mr Nicolle said that he was confident New Zealand’s two talented speed skating sisters, Katrina and Bridget McCallum, would have acquitted themselves with distinction at the meeting. “Four Australian boys scooped the pool but it must be remembered that the meeting was called at late notice and the Australians were coming out of their season while the British and Canadians were about to start theirs.” One of the recommendations to be put to the technical committee is

for the placing of assistant referees on the corners at international competitions. “Indoor short track skating is becoming faster and we are becoming concerned with the safety aspect. The referee is placed in the middle of the ice but most incidents occur at the corners and he can’t always see what’s going on. We will recommend that a minimum of two if not four assistant referees stand at the apex of the corners where they will get a good line of sight. "It is desirable that not all referees come from the one country so it might mean the countries are saddled with bringing in outside help. For the 1991 world championships in Australia they might have to summon help from Asia or North America or from New Zealand.” Mr Nicolle said that New Zealand would be

foolish if it did not pursue the possibility of holding an international event in New Zealand after the 1991 world championships, a team competition being the logical consideration.

Another part of the learning experience at the Budapest course involved the study of videos which highlighted some incident from a past competition. “The beauty of it was that you could see it in slow motion and play it back, although in reality you have to make instant decisions on the spot. We were asked what and how we would decide on the incidents and we were not always right,” Mr Nicolle confessed.

Mr Nicolle is hopeful that he and Mr Havenaar will be able to update fellow New Zealand officials and competitors on the latest international developments at a seminar in the near future.