Brazilian referees in top-tier FIBA events motivate younger refereeing prospects

RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil) – The Brazilian Basketball Confederation (CBB, for its Portuguese acronym) is working to lift basketball in all areas and refereeing is not an exception. Since former player Guy Peixoto took on the CBB presidency, his efforts and a clear and objective demonstration in the presidency, as well as his team's commitment, the federation has been able to improve all aspects of this South American nation’s basketball.

Referees with international experience as well as new referees are studying throughout the years in workshops and courses for referees given by the CBB. Later, they participate in local, continental and international tournaments, increasing their participation to try to leave the best impression they can.

The CBB Referee Department received, at the beginning of August, the list of FIBA referees and commissioners approved for the 2019-2021 tournaments. This nomination was made by the national confederations, who had a tough task of choosing nominees due to the quality of those that were qualified to act at an international level.

The CBB’s referee development programs and the participation of several Brazilian referees in the FIBA Camps have been very important for Brazil's refereeing in recent months. At the FIBA Americas Youth Development Program Elite Camp in Campinas, in December 2018, they had two days full of athletic activities, where they were part of workshops that including fundamentals, neurosciences, the development of individual and collective abilities, and talks regarding player-referee dynamics by FIBA Americas Referee Director, Geraldo Fontana.

The YDP welcomed 10 Brazilian referees. But before that, FIBA held two other camps: one in Rio de Janeiro and another in Belo Horizonte to choose the referees that would attend the YDP and that would later by licensed by FIBA.

“After the YDP, 6 referees were able to be licensed by FIBA. There’s a perspective ahead for these referees and we have to follow-up on them. They participate in the CBB camps and Brazil's national league, as well as in the South American League," said Geraldo Fontana to FIBA.basketball.

“Our continent is developing all the conditions for referees with potential to be monitored and trained so they can be placed in important games. We're very happy because we have the talents and the commitment to referee in South American Tournaments and the South American League, aside from the Americas Qualifiers next year. After the World Cup, the Americas are stronger than ever. The main referees in the games came from the Americas. An outstanding example was Maranho in the Final between Argentina and Spain,” he added.

For the CBB the main objective is for referees that wish to continue and have the ambition to get to the best FIBA tournaments.

“We follow the tendencies and the FIBA development within these national competitions for this election. We've been lucky because there were 15 openings for international FIBA referees. Six participated in the CBB’s referee development programs and others in the FIBA Camps,” explained Vander Lobosco Jr., CBB Refereeing Coordinator, to FIBA.basketball.

“This is a very important cycle because it's part of the preparing process for younger referees to stay for the next cycles, which renew every two years. With the number of referees coming up in the development programs, of course, there was a healthy competition to see who would referee in national, continental and international tournaments,” added Vander.

And that's how Brazilian refereeing has been able to get to and stand out in international competitions. Recently, Cristiano Maranho was one of the referees in the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China 2019 (from August 31 to September 15) Final, as well as in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru (July 26 to August 11) in the duel against Argentina and Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, Andreia Regina Da Silva refereed the Final between the United States and Canada at the FIBA Women's AmeriCup 2019, which took place in Puerto Rico from September 22 to 30.

Says Vander Lobosco: “Maranho has been doing an outstanding job; he's among the most important names in international refereeing; Andreia Silva has been growing with each competition. I admire their work a lot. A lot of young Brazilian referees should imitate many of their actions as referees.”

In his most recent international competitions, Maranho has always refereed final games as the main referee, which showcases the fruits of his work in FIBA refereeing. When leading the gold medal game in the Pan American Games in Lima, he conquered the feat of having refereed in all the finals of the main FIBA competitions.

“The CBB is proud to have professional referees and officials invited to FIBA competitions and make a difference. Maranho, particularly, who has been outstanding for many years in refereeing and belonging to the elite FIBA referees. The fact is that despite his age, Cristiano (45), has become more important and active not only by studying and applying the rules but also in the physical aspect. He's an example for younger referees," he pointed out.

As for Maranho, being able to referee a final of a top-tier competition is always a challenge. “Going to a World Cup isn't too hard. The hardest thing is to come back and stay at the highest level of the international refereeing elite. This shows that I can still referee at a high level, which isn't easy because there are many young referees and of the 56 that were in China, many of them – or all of them – wanted to be in the Final.”

Women's refereeing has also noticeably grown in the South American country. Andreia Da Silva's case is one of the many examples in recent years of the rise of Brazilian refereeing at a national and international level.

“Andreia has improved competition after competition and is gaining traction among the elite referees. She understands that to be a referee, the challenge isn't only in the women's world, but in the men’s world as well. She’s very professional in and out of the court. She's a refereeing icon,” added Vander.

"I was extremely happy to referee in the Pan American Final because I worked hard to get there. We had a physical examination, we prepared with a lot of effort – the largest I've done in my 19 years as a referee. If I wouldn’t have refereed in the Final it would've also been a very gratifying experience because the important thing being a FIBA referee is to always be summoned and have the possibility and the chance of representing Brazil and the Americas everywhere around the world,” said Andreia.

The CBB referees’ coordinator knows that the presence of Brazilian referees in the top-tier FIBA finals helps to motivate young referees in the South American country. “Cristiano and Andreia represented us in the final games with an excellent job. Not only in the decisive games, but also during the competition. We hope that they continue to be an example for a very long time for rookie referees and they motivate them. That's our main goal," concluded Vander Lobosco Jr.

Guilherme Locatelli was also an official referee in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China and Ramiro Inchauspe refereed at the Pan American Games. They are some of the other internationally renowned Brazilian referees.

Besides Maranho, Silva, Locatelli and Inchauspe, other internationally FIBA licensed referees that strive to reach great recognition are: Alan Thiago dos Santos, Bruno da Costa Oliveira, Cauan Santos, César Augusto Lopes Gonçalves, Diego Chiconato, Fabiano Huber, Fernando Aparecido Leite, Marcos Fornies Benito, Maria Claudia Comodaro Morães, Shelley Quintella and Wallace Pacífico Rosa.

FIBA