Refs and Asst. Refs Participate in FIFA’s RAP 2018
The Referee Assistant Program 2018 is being held at the Princess Ramada Hotel Casino. The one-week training is organized by the Football Federation of Belize in collaboration with FIFA. The annual training programme is to enhance the quality of refereeing in Belize and features intense theory and practice sessions. We stopped in at the workshop today and found the participants testing out their skills under the guidance of FIFA certified trainers, including a visiting technical instructor. News Five’s Andrea Polanco reports.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Thirty-two participants are getting physical on the MCC Grounds today – displaying their strength and agility, among other fitness tests. They are persons training in the annualFIFA Referee Assistant Program (RAP). It is a course designed to enhance referees training techniques and standardization with the interpretation of the laws – as well as their technical capabilities. A FIFA certified technical instructor has been working with the participants for the past week.
Hermenerito Leal
Hermenerito Leal, Technical Instructor, FIFA
“The refereeing assistance programme is trying t develop all the referees in the member associations. So, we are talking technical topics like handball, penalty area situations. So, it is not all in the classroom, we are trying to do the same in the field of training and so whatever we talk about in the classroom, we are trying to do the same in the field of training.”
The participants had to do a number of mock tests before they were admitted into the programme. Ricardo Ake is a certified FIFA assistant referee. He says that these trainings are always relevant, as the sport of football is dynamic and evolving – so he uses these opportunities to stay on top of his refereeing game.
Ricardo Ake
Ricardo Ake, FIFA Assistant Referee
“Here we come for us as referees to get more knowledge as the world of football every year increases and the laws of the games keep modifying and the level of football keep moving at a different pace. So, we, as referees, are being brought here to keep abreast of the new laws and the interpretation of it. We have the different workouts that they have provided for us, not just as a group, but when we go back to our districts for us to implement with our new elite referees and the new guys coming up. Belize is a country that is trying to get new referees, young referees, which is a career in itself but in Belize we don’t have professionals. But being a FIFA international referee or assistant referee and it gives us knowledge and you get to know many things out there. Personally, it helps me to be more knowledgeable of what is happening in the world today especially on the international scene, not just looking at what we have here in Belize. We are growing but we have other international games that happen and that helps us to work levels that we have here.”
The Football Federation of Belize says that this kind of capacity building is critical to professional refereeing at all levels. Having been tested in the theory and practical components, the refs and assistant refs are better equipped to judge matches.
David Henry Jones
David Henry Jones, Refereeing Director, F.F.B.
“This is what you call the hallmark of refereeing in any country, any member association. And FIFA has two-hundred and seventeen members, so you find that this kind of Referee Assistance Programme (RAP) 2018 is the highest level of instructions that they get at this point to evaluate us the local instructors that we are doing the right thing, teaching the right information and giving the right information and that’s why they are here to do that.”
Reporting for news five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
