Soccer Symposium For Officials

This past weekend BC Soccer conducted its Annual Referee Assessor/Instructor Symposium with almost 50 participants attending.

Assessors and Instructors from BC including representatives from Nelson, Prince George, Trail, Cranbrook, Comox and the Lower Mainland attended the three day event which combined technical, practical and administrative sessions.

The event was held in Burnaby at the Burnaby Lake West Field Complex and New Westminster’s Mercer Stadium.

The BC Soccer Referee Committee members including (former) FIFA Referee Bob Sawtell and (former) FIFA Assistant Referee John Nielsen were involved in delivering and instructing the sessions along with BC Soccer Referee Development Coordinator Jose Branco.

Participants also attended the MLS game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Real Salt Lake at BC Place using the game to put their assessments skills into practice.

The following day, attendees were privileged to hear from referee Paul Ward, who provide personal insights to officiating at the highest levels of soccer in North America.

The annual symposium is a key element of the on-going commitment from BC Soccer to support its assessors and clinic instructors and provide them with the tools and skills to improve the quality of match officials across BC especially for those involved at the grassroots levels.

This year’s symposium also was the launch of the Ref Centre, BC Soccer’s new Referee System.  This system enables BC Soccer to facilitate referee annual fitness testing tracking/reporting, referee scheduling, assessment tracking/reporting and the entire clinic process, including clinic requests.

BC Soccer ensures that material is shared with all of its Instructors and Assessors as well as its officials via Annual Refresher Clinics, Entry Level clinics, Regional Referee Clinics, Head Referee meetings and Assessments.

The weekend provided the opportunity for all the instructors to receive the clinic content and instruction on delivery of the 2012/13 Referee Refresher Clinics which commence this weekend at a number of different venues and clubs.

Jose Branco said, “This weekend’s symposium is a key part of that support process and the topic’s covered allowed for some excellent discussion and learning’s to be embraced which can be taken back and shared especially with those involved in grassroots soccer”.

Good move by BC Soccer for putting on such a clinic.

Maybe other sports should take note!!!!