European Games | 31 Jul 2017

The Seminar for Referees as a preparation for two big table tennis events in Minsk

Seminar was held in Minsk, host city of 2018 European Under 21 Championships and 2019 European Games

 

Two bright international tournaments in table tennis will be held in Minsk in the next two years: 2018 European Under 21 Championships and 2019 European Games. Preparing for these competitions, the Belarus Table Tennis Federation, based on the RCOP in table tennis, conducted a referee seminar under the leadership of Nikolai TERESHKIN, the head of the Referee and Umpires Committee of the Russian Table Tennis Federation.

 

A total of 25 referees from all over Belarus took part in the seminar. The seminar began with the greeting of First Deputy President Alexandre PETKEVITCH.

He noted that the seminar is only the first step to improving the skills of Belarusian referees and solving some problems of the judiciary in this country. One of them is a small number of international umpires. The Federation of Table Tennis of Russia also faced similar difficulties. When Nikolai TERESHKIN had only began to head the Referee and Umpires Committee, they did not have a single referee of the international top-level category (blue badge). And in Belarus there are no such qualifications till now.

 

"I knew before the seminar the situation with the judiciary in the republic. Despite the excellent overall attitude to table tennis in Belarus and the impressive results of the team, the success of the referee leaves much to be desired", stated Nikolai TERESHKIN. "Now in Russia there are 5 referees of the top international level (blue badge), and we are preparing two more who will be able to serve the world championships, youth Olympic games, etc. If you are now embarking on the path of holding large tournaments, then you need to seriously engage in the training of referees."

 

Despite the shortage of referees of the international category, they still exist in Belarus. And Belarus Table Tennis Federation is determined to work on improving the skills, the participation in the seminar confirms this fact.

 

Oleg TYUSHKEVICH is the owner of the international refereeing category, and also still acts as a player in competitions. Sometimes after a match is played, he has to point out to young referees their mistakes in refereeing.

 

"There are a lot of young people at the seminar who have recently began to judge the competitions and they have received very useful information here. Such meetings should be hold as often as possible. For me, there is a lot of familiar material, because I am a practicing referee, judge matches, go to the European Championships. But repetition is the mother of learning. As Nikolai Tereshkin has correctly noted, the referees learn a lot of nuances precisely in the process of work", Oleg Tyushkevich said.

Some referees have the opportunity to get more acquainted with refereeing at the international level thanks to trips to major tournaments as a coach. Tatiana Dolgonosova has recently returned from the European Youth Championships, where our team of cadets won the bronze in the team tournament. True, if the result of the athletes pleased the specialist from Belarus, the work of the referees did not always receive the highest evaluation of her.

 

Tatiana DOLGONOSOVA says:

"I have an international refereeing category and used to practice much more. Now I direct the main forces to coaching. At the European Championships among juniors and cadets, several controversial judgments were adopted. Fortunately, they did not touch us, but influenced the results of our rivals. For example, we know for sure that there was a mistake in the match, but the judge insisted on his own. This means that the coach also needs to know all the nuances of refereeing and prepare athletes for ambiguous decisions. The seminar under the direction of Nikolai Tereshkin is very useful both for more experienced referees and for beginners. We got such an academic work, where we analyzed game situations and corresponding judicial decisions. "

 

After having passed the exam, each student received a certificate and an opportunity to ask questions to Nikolai TERESHKIN. Belarus Table Tennis Federation thank all participants of the seminar, as well as the teacher and organizers for the work done!