13/02/2021 20:00
ERC drafts ambitious plans to grow next generation of elite referees
News from the CEV
Luxembourg, February 13, 2021. The members of the European Refereeing Commission (ERC) convened on Friday via Zoom for the first plenary meeting of the 2020-2024 term, with the discussions revolving around a number of educational projects and other actions likely to help grow and develop the next generation of elite Volleyball referees.
The ERC will continue to work hard to cement the leading role played by European referees on the global stage, focusing to this extent on a group of young and talented referees due to join the Referee Academy – a course run by the FIVB and due to take place later this year in Mexico.
Moreover, the ERC will support the participation of female referees, whose role has considerably grown over the last few years, but there obviously still remain areas of improvement.
In general, the ERC will work to provide some sort of medical and psychological coaching to all active referees as well.
By scouting and following matches online, the ERC members will continue their extensive work to monitor and analyse the performance of international referees, thus identifying those who have the skills and potential to move to the higher-ranked CEV and FIVB groups. To this extent, the ERC will provide more opportunities to officiate to candidate referees – since the outbreak of the pandemic and cancellation / postponement of many competitions has slowed down their process of steady and continuous development.
With this in mind, the ERC is currently working on the provision of an online platform where all evaluations (R4 forms) will be available, thus accounting for the availability of a number of useful stats as well.
The ERC wishes to develop a closer cooperation with the CEV Beach and Snow Volleyball Department to foster the growth of Beach Volleyball referees and a closer follow-up on their performances as well. With Snow Volleyball growing at a very fast pace and the ultimate goal shared by CEV and FIVB the addition of this sport to the programme of the Winter Olympics, the ERC will work closely with all parties to contribute to the growth of Snow Volleyball, also through the provision of an electronic score sheet specifically designed for the sport.
While working on their strategic masterplan for 2020-2024, the ERC will continue to look for a continuous and productive exchange and interaction with the Refereeing Commissions of the 56 CEV National Federations. Later this year, when Belgrade will be playing host to EuroVolley 2021 Women, the ERC is planning to deliver a seminar where more experienced referees will be sharing their knowhow and best practices with younger colleagues in order to grow their skills through such a personal exchange.
Friday’s meeting was the first chaired by new ERC President Zorica Bjelic, with ERC Honorary President Luciano Gaspari in attendance as well. With some of the ERC members staying on for another term, some joined the Commission for the very first time. These are ERC Secretary Arturo Di Giacomo (BEL), Hans Almkvist (SWE), Avelino Azevedo (POR), Georgios Georgouleas (GRE), Cor van Gompel (NED) and Andrei Zenovich (RUS).
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