By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The 25th Clinic for Euroleague Basketball Officials took place over the weekend in Belgrade, Serbia with 75 participants fine-tuning all the officiating details ahead of a breakthrough 2016-17 season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the 7DAYS EuroCup.
A total of 62 referees, 10 observers and three domestic leagues’ directors of officiating took part in the three-day event at the Metropol Palace Belgrade Hotel in the Serbian capital. Among the featured lecturers who addressed the participants were Brose Bamberg head coach Andrea Trinchieri and former NBA Director of Officiating Ronnie Nunn.
The clinic meshed together preseason preparation regimens with professional development sessions. Officials in attendance took part in photo sessions, physical fitness evaluations, rules examinations and video tests. The afternoons were reserved for sessions that both reviewed and refreshed classic refereeing skills, detailed rules, their application and the basis for the introduction new concepts and reinforced guidelines.
Saturday’s sessions, highlighted by a talk from Nunn, also included a review of last season’s data and statistics, playing situations, among them contact fouls, violations and game control.
On Sunday, Coach Trinchieri spoke to give the referees a coach’s perspective on the current trends and tactics in playing the game.
The referees also received information and instruction on the new Instant Replay System from Hawkeye that will be in use at all EuroLeague games this season. Additional educational technology was presented in the form of the Hudl platform, which enables officials to check game footage.
The officials will preside this season over two competitions with new formats. The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague now has 16 teams and more games than ever under a revolutionary league structure in which all teams play each other for the first time in European club basketball history. The 7DAYS Eurocup now has an exciting Top 16 phase between the regular season and the quarterfinal playoffs.
“Our team of officials has been able to improve every season thanks to on-going preparation highlighted by these clinics, where we can all get in the same room and work together on the details of game officiating,” Richard Stokes, Euroleague Basketball’s Director of Officiating, said. “The goals are always to ensure a consistent and fair approach in what we deliver to the coaches and players and we also have and important role in helping to deliver a high level of entertaining basketball for the fans.”