22/07/2020 09:22
Online session with Sandy Steel wraps up “A whistle with…” series run by Portuguese Federation
News from the National Federations
Porto, Portugal, July 22, 2020. About fifty Portuguese referees followed the latest and last episode of the “A whistle with…” series, this time hosted by Alexander ‘Sandy’ Steel of Scotland, the main responsible for the implementation and coordination of the so-called “Referee Hub”. Steel has been a member of the FIVB Rules of the Game Commission since 1989 and of the Refereeing Committee at as many as six editions of the Olympic Games. He has been responsible for the online FIVB Development Centre since 2017 and, therefore, this workshop provided many interesting insights and challenges to the Portuguese referees following the videoconference.
Avelino Azevedo, President of the FPV (Portuguese Volleyball Federation) Refereeing Commission, was pleased with the outcome of the session: “This was another excellent videoconference, as the speaker is one of the most competent and experienced FIVB officials, as shown by the 31 years he has spent working with the organisation responsible for the governance of the sport worldwide. Through his leadership in the Referee Hub e-learning, it was possible to show to Portuguese referees that real learning possibilities are just a click away, which allows a personal development of their refereeing skills. It was also an opportunity to understand how the rules of the game can and should be interpreted, what kind of resources are available and how each one of them can help deal with the different situations you encounter when officiating.”
Previous speakers in the programme included the Secretary of the European Refereeing Commission (ERC) Zorica Bjelic of Serbia, Spanish international referee Susana Maria Rodriguez Jativa, Portuguese José Casanova, who is the Secretary of the FIVB Refereeing and Rules of the Game Commission. More recently, Portuguese referees could attend sessions hosted by renowned Brazilian international referee Paulo Turci, Spanish international Beach Volleyball referee Jose Maria Padron, Brazilian Maria Amélia Villas-Boas, a member of the FIVB Refereeing and Rules of the Game Commission, as well as Brazilian Beach Volleyball challenge referee Elzir Martins.
The workshop hosted by Steel was the eighth in the series running under the slogan “A whistle with…” with Mr Azevedo drawing many positives from the experience. “We had eight sessions in the last three months with guests of excellence, as shown by the fact that they are all due to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It was an unprecedented opportunity to share knowledge and experience, which is of great importance for Portuguese referees. We will use this experience to prepare and launch, with the game casebook analysis sessions guided by Portuguese international referees, the process of continuous training of our referees, which will help us re-shape our work for the coming season, to ensure an even greater efficiency and quality in the performance and evolution of our referees,” he said.
The FPV Training Department contributed to this programme as well, using the break imposed by the coronavirus crisis resulting in the absence of international competitions as an opportunity to raise the level of national and international refereeing, thus contributing, in a constructive and pedagogical way, to the improvement and further development of Volleyball and Beach Volleyball in Portugal.
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