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In Southeast Asia, boost in referee numbers

Thursday, May 25, 2023 - 05:51 By United World Wrestling Press

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (May 25) -- In a bid to improve the skills of referees in the region, an Introduction to Refereeing course was hosted by the Cambodian Wrestling Federation prior to the South East Asian Games.

The course was conducted between May 8-12 and organized by the President of Southeast Asia and Vice President of CWF Casey BARNETT.

Conducted by United World Wrestling Educator and IS Olympic referee Ashok KUMAR (IND), the course allowed referees from Southeast Asia to improve their skills prior to being evaluated at SEA Games for a potential UWW referee license.

There were 17 participants that took part in the course. This included referees from Cambodia, Indonesia, and Ukraine.

“Most of the candidates were young referees in their twenties. They were extremely enthusiastic and excited to learn about referee skills," Kumar said.

During the course, participants learned the foundations of what it takes to be a great referee. The areas covered during the course included: the safety of the athletes, evaluation of holds, referee mechanics, positioning, and controlling the bout.

The five-day course gave the participants extra practice because of the limited wrestling activities in the region.

Cambodia

Each day, they conducted theoretical sessions in the morning at the CamEd International Business School. Then in the afternoon, the participants had practical sessions at the training hall.

"The extra practice and longer course were perfect for the candidates. This was evident with the amount of improvement they showed on the final day of the course,” Kumar added.

At the conclusion of the course, the referee candidates completed the UWW Level 1 course and practical during the SEA Games. With their performance, they hope to see an increase in the number of UWW-licensed referees.

“The training course was a wonderful success with the excellent class instruction of Kumar and the amazing mentoring and supervision of Jang. The skills developed by our referees will make a long-lasting impact on the sport of wrestling in Southeast Asia by improving the standard of refereeing and competitions in the region," Barnett said.

Even the participants of the course expressed their satisfaction and hailed the course as transformative.

"Throughout the SEA Games in Cambodia, I had the opportunity to participate in Referee Training Course which was educated by an expert educator from UWW. I used to doubt and ask myself if I can make it or not. As a result [of the course], I was able to successfully achieve it,” Huy LYSIENG, a Cambodian referee, said.

Another referee added that the emphasis was put on the right areas and the course will help them perform their duty in the right manner. 

“I particularly enjoyed the structure of the course," Mykyta SHYMKO, a referee from Ukraine, said. "It managed to strike a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical skills, allowing us not only to understand the rules of wrestling but also to apply them in practice. It was also wonderful to see that you placed special emphasis on ethics and fairness in refereeing, making our sessions even more valuable.”

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Introduction to Refereeing course hosted on sidelines of FISU Combat Sports

Monday, October 3, 2022 - 13:22 By United World Wrestling Press

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SAMSUN, Turkey (October 3) -- Introduction to Refereeing Course was held from September 23 to 27, 2022 in Samsun, Turkey on the sidelines of the FISU University World Cup Combat Sports.

The course, held with the collaboration of FISU for the first time, was supported by the Turkish University and the national federation. It was conducted by UWW Educator, Levent SEN.

UWW Referee Commission member Ibrahim CICIOGLU and FISU Wrestling Technical Committee Chair coordinated the composition of candidates who were from different universities in Turkey.

The first purpose of this course was to bring the young student-athletes, who gave up wrestling at a young age, back to the wrestling family. A total of 16 university students [10 men and six women] attended the course.

FISU President Leonz EDER and President of Turkish University Sports Federation Dr. Mehmet GUNAY attended the opening session of the course. 

After the course, Eder said that FISU emphasizes collaborations with the international federation and the course is a good chance for the former athletes to turn and serve their sport in a different aspect. He also thanked UWW President Nenad LALOVIC for giving this opportunity to the students.

TUSF President Gunay said he is very happy to be involved and facilitate such a course and will always provide support to improve wrestling at the university level.

During the course, both the theory and practice were conducted with presentations to depict all things refereeing. In the practical session, every trainee had one minute for refereeing. Their performance was video recorded and the UWW Educator reviewed their refereeing mechanism and gave his assessments for the same.

The trainees also had the chance to feel the atmosphere of competition as all of them attended the FISU World Cups competition from September 26 to 30. They were the referee candidates for two days.

All 16 of them were present to analyze the weigh-in procedure of the competition, the meeting of the referees before the bouts and the bout itself. They also got the experience of sitting next to the timekeeper and working as a timekeeper.

Other activities included drawings by the trainees of what a referee looks like, making a house of cards using only one hand inside the time limit which was 10 minutes and four different puzzles [for every group one puzzle].

The goal of these activities was to improve team coordination and find solutions when faced with problems.

A rock, paper, scissors tournament was also used to explain the pairing system. Every trainee took numbers from the draw and placed them in a bracket. According to the pairing system, they competed in the rock, paper, scissors game.

From the elimination to the bronze and gold medal matches, the trainee who won two of the three games was the winner. For the bronze and gold medal matches, a best-of-five system was followed.

To work on mechanics, a mirror activity was conducted with one person walking around and others who must do exactly what he does -- hold a whistle, change levels, score points, start using a whistle and likewise.

Finally, a shadow game during the practical session included a trainee practicing refereeing on the mat without wrestlers to imagine the situation that can arise during the bout.