Guatemala prepares referees, coaches and players to start 2019 with the motto: ''We aim for more''

GUATEMALA – Basketball is a sport that develops a perfect physique, great health and teaches discipline: athletes must comply with the technical tactic plan set forth by their coaches. Also, they must bond with their teammates and respect the established rules of conduct. These are the principles of the Guatemala Basketball Federation (FNBG), who will start their activities on February 2019 with the National Referee Workshop, while also celebrating the Coaching Camp and the High-Performance Technical School.

Year after year, the Federation organizes a three-day (February 1-3 and 15-17) Referee Workshop at Gimnasio Nacional Teodoro Palacios Flores, to accredit the referees to work in any of the competitive circuits of the Federation in their country.

Dennys Ordoñez, FNBG Marketing Manager and Communications Director since 2012, talked to FIBA about starting the year with the Referee Workshop at the Central American Country. “All referees that work in the Federation’s competitive circuits, which are many, must comply. We have total control of basketball at a national level and we prepare a tournament that includes our 22 departments, for categories spanning U12 to U23, first and second division and “Maxi” Basketball. On the first Saturday of February, the players from the minor leagues start to play many games. Then the National League will take place and for all those competitive tournaments we need quite a number of referees – we don’t sign anyone that doesn't have that year-long accreditation.”

He also stated: “At these workshops we’ll introduce the new FIBA rules. They were done last year, but we’ll put them into effect this year. There will also be a philosophical aspect in the work. We’ll give referees all the tools (they need) so that they can direct correspondingly.”

From February 8-10, Guatemala will celebrate their Coaching Camp; each year, FNBG signs an average of 2 or 3 coaches for each one of the 22 cities of their country so that they work in the 22 federation schools. At camp, they’ll receive training, annual technical planning and will be signing their respective legal contracts.

Finally, on February 28 the High-Performance Technical School will begin, with the objective of concentrating six days a week during the year those athletes that fit the height and age profile, in order to prepare the second and third line of athletes that will represent Guatemala internationally in the long run.

Ordoñez adds: “In March, the coaches that work with all the nation’s team will arrive. They sign a contract with the Federation so that we give them an introduction and a specialized workshop regarding the work that we want for the formative categories in 2019.”

FNBG’s challenge for 2019 is to go above and beyond everything positive that has happened to national basketball in recent years. In their social media, the Federation shared a clear message by the end of 2018: “We're willing and longing to begin. We know it won’t be easy, that we’ll have to make a greater effort every day to reach athletic excellence. This 2019 we aim for more...”

FIBA