Referee Reading Material

A few weeks ago I was invited to lecture at the referees’ clinic that runs parallel to the Slovenian Basketball Federation’s camp this week in Postojna, Slovenia.

The invitation was later revoked. I was told by the clinic manager who had originally invited me that an éminence grise vetoed my talk; apparently, my experience with university-level teaching prevented me from lecturing in a comprehensive fashion to a group of enthusiastic referees aged around 20.

Some of you might know that I officiated basketball games for over ten years. Thus far, I (comprehensively) lectured in about 15 beginner’s courses for referees and 15 coaching clinics. I have even conducted Fair Play Schools for children in elementary schools.

That leads me to thinking that this éminence grise who has been controlling the referees’ organization for decades thinks elementary school students are more intelligent than college-aged referees.

I beg to differ.

In an attempt to expose young referees to knowledge and new perspectives, I share two manuscripts that might be of interest to them.

The first is an article I co-authored with renowned Slovenian-Italian sports broadcaster and coach Sergio Tavčar. The article titled “Coach-Referee Relationship and Referee’s Attitude During Games” was published in Trener [“Coach”] journal in 2005.

The second is a book I co-edited with Dr. Brane Dežman from the Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana. “Officiating Basketball: Research Aspects” is an e-book that includes chapters on the physiology, psychology, performance, and demographics of officiating.

Hopefully, this will inform and possibly inspire young referees to pick up new approaches and perspectives for their on-court performance.

About Simon Ličen

Simon Ličen is a researcher, lecturer and author in sport, media and communication.
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