Bench Officials News

11 August 2011

At the recent Mission Foods World Netball Championships 2011, forty-five (45) Technical Officials were appointed to Bench officiating and Statistician roles.  Whilst twenty-six (26) of these technicians were international officials, nineteen (19) were home grown qualified Singapore officials who were all appointed on merit.

Netball Singapore and the Singapore Sports Council (who has funded the training and development of our Officials in recent years) are very proud of the achievements of our technical officials and congratulate them all on their performance at the recent World Netball Championships (WNC).

The respective Managers of the Bench Officials (Beryl Harvey) and Statisticians (Suzanne Whyte) both from New Zealand have provided the following reports on the performance of the Singapore Officials, some of whom were appointed on merit to the Bronze and Gold Medal matches.

Bench Officials

By Beryl Harvey, Bench Officials Manager

It was a pleasure to work with the 10 Singaporean Bench officials at the recent World Netball Championships.  A number of these people were quite recently trained and qualified, but this was not reflected in their performance. The level of application and efficiency displayed by all was very commendable.

Tan Lirong, Assistant Bench Official Manager, was a superb organiser. She was able to implement practices to ensure the smooth running of operations. Her communication skills are very highly developed and she quickly earned the respect of all those with whom she worked. Lirong spent long hours ensuring that all bench-side equipment was available, the correct personnel were working on the benches, their performances were evaluated and that all game paperwork was accurate.

Goh Sui Pheng and Chen Bi Xia were appointed as Bench Referees for the tournament. Their position required ensuring that personnel appointed to specific games correctly completed their roles, that accurate scoring and timing actions were being completed and that all paperwork relating to their assigned games was correct. Their roles required them to be effective communicators and to have a high level of understanding of all bench official roles - skills which were consistently demonstrated.

The other seven locally appointed officials, Elaine Teo, Elizabeth Hwang, Grace Koo, Jacqueline Phua, Olivia Wu, Toh Bee Hsing and Zhang Ailin adapted very quickly to undertaking a variety of roles. They displayed high levels of skill and demonstrated a willingness to work with other international appointed personnel. They all demonstrated a willingness to learn, a desire to perform to a high standard and approached their roles with enthusiasm.

The skill level of the local bench officials was reflected in placements on the Gold/Silver, and Bronze medal matches, with the following appointed to Bench roles:

Statisticians

By Suzanne Whyte, Statisticians Manager

As part of my role as Statisticians Manager for the Mission Foods WNC 2011 I was involved in training a group of keen Singaporean netballers to become statisticians for the tournament. The training started in April 2010 and required they regularly practice their new skills right up until the tournament started.

During WNC 2011 it soon became clear that all the Singaporean statisticians were extremely dedicated and had been diligently practising in the lead up to the tournament. The feedback we received from the much more experienced New Zealand statisticians was consistently very positive. Most of the Singaporeans had achieved the same high standard as their more experienced counterparts by the end of the tournament and there was little to separate them from the remainder.

As a result my supervisors and I had a large number of suitable candidates for the grand final and bronze medal matches. We had no hesitation in appointing the following: 

It is worth mentioning that this group of statisticians are not simply involved in netball statistics. Most umpire and many coach, some both, in addition to their new voluntary statistician role. However they still make time to hone their statistics skills, and willingly do so. Many have expressed interest in attending the New Zealand tournaments to continue their development and Netball New Zealand has indicated they hope to offer them that chance. This would be an ideal opportunity to continue the excellent relationship that now exists between statisticians in both countries.

It was an absolute pleasure to work with such a group of dedicated individuals. Their work ethic was superb and they were excellent hosts. The Mission Foods WNC 2011 is possibly the most enjoyable tournament I have attended.

Congratulations to Tan Lirong and Goh Sui Pheng!

They were our very own Singaporean bench officials at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and were given the opportunity to officiate at the Gold Medal match between Australia & New Zealand that went into double extra time.

Final rankings by the Bench Manager at the Commonwealth Games saw both Lirong (as Timer) and Sui Pheng (as Scorer) ranked 2nd overall - an incredible achievement from a field of the world's 12 best Netball Bench Officials.

BENCH OFFICIALS ACCREDITATION

SCORERS

In the Netball Singapore Accreditation programme there will be 2 scorer roles.

• Scorer 1 shall complete the Statistical Score Sheet
• Scorer 2 will complete the Running Score Sheet and call for the scorer 1

TIMEKEEPERS

In the Netball Singapore Accreditation programme there will be 2 timekeepers on each game

There are a number of tasks which need to be completed by timekeepers – the allocation of the tasks will vary from game to game depending on the equipment and specific protocols

Accreditation as a Scorer and/or Timekeeper can be gained on games which are 4 x 15 minute duration and approved by Netball Singapore Technical Manager.

Candidates who wish to be accredited as a Scorer shall:

• Attend training sessions as required
• Successfully complete three Statistical Score Sheets on matches approved by TM
• Successfully complete three Running Score Sheets on matches approved by TM

Candidates who wish to be accredited as a Timekeeper shall

• Attend a training seminar
• Successfully complete three matches as a Timekeeper on matches approved by GDM/NTM

Process:

• Scorer completes a score sheet and requests the Bench Referee submits it for assessment to TM or Netball Singapore approved assessors. 
• TM or Netball Singapore approved assessors will be responsible for the assessment of the score sheet.
• When correct score sheets have been submitted the result will be advised to the candidate.
• Candidates not yet competent will be advised promptly and advised  on areas of improvement needed
• Timekeepers will be observed by assessors during designated games
• A certificate will be awarded 

IFNA Bench Officials Manual

In November 2010, IFNA will publish a Bench Officials Manual to provide international standards for scoring, timekeeping and other related duties. This will standardise bench procedures for international matches and all IFNA controlled events will be based on them. A revised score sheet forms part of the new material and electronic forms of this (and other forms needed for match use) will be available as part of the Manual.

International accreditation of scorers and timekeepers will be introduced in conjunction with the Manual and will provide a qualification level for those wishing to officiate on IFNA events and other international matches.

IFNA Members will be kept informed about both these projects as they progress.

From IFNA website: http://www.netball.org/news.aspx?id=430

Please contact Bee Ling at email / t:6346 5063 ext. 108 for more information.