PANAMA CITY - From February 8-10, Panama held a FIBA Americas Referee Training Camp in which 86 participants, 50 referees and 36 listeners from all around the country, took part of all the activities from the room to the court.

The main points of the activity were:
• Identify the potential national referees to be part of the FIBA Official Licensing Program 2019, 2021 and beyond.
• Increase the level of the national technical team as a part of the FIBA Development Program for National Federations, from the initial to the top national referees with the potential to become international referees.

The three days camp included different activities, room sessions with presentations by the instructors and video analysis group works to stimulate the decision making process of the referees; we had also video conferences with Geraldo Fontana, FIBA Americas Referee Department, and part of his instructor’s team. On the court, the referees practiced the three persons mechanics and realized the physical fitness test to measure their endurance. Four high level U22 teams participated in a three games tournament in which the participants had the opportunity to show their officiating skills and receive comments of the rooms to improve by the instructors.

To go under the professional areas that complement a basketball referee, Jose Barrios, Fitness Trainer of the national team, explained the importance of the physical preparation at all levels and how we should train constantly to have a healthy carreer. We had also Anthony Quiros, a Sports Psychologist, who presented the importance of the mental preparation to control our emotions during the games and to have better relations with the players and coaches. Some advices to recover after making a mistake were discussed too.

“This is the way of giving the referees the opportunity to have a high level training, focusing on the last rule changes and other important elements that will let them work efficiently their games”, explained Roberto Vazquez, instructor from Puerto Rico, who worked with Julio Anaya, instructor from Panama.

“It is a great experience to get more knowledge and tools to continue growing in the activity we like, basketball officiating”, said Juvenal Jurado, a national referee who is a candidate to become an international referee during this year.

FIBA