THE Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) expects that the four-day referees training, to be held in Arusha early next month, would help improve the standard of the sport in the country.
TBF’s Secretary General Alexander Msoffe told the ‘Daily News on Saturday’ over the phone today that the course is aimed at refreshing and introducing new ideas to various refs in order to get good, experienced and qualified referees.
“The training has been approved by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and aims to impart officials with new skills which can help them bring about changes in the sport,” he said.
He underscored that the standard of the sport is still low in the country which haunt local teams at various international tournaments.
“Our players are short of skills and hardly understand the rules of the game while on the court, by teaching the referees, the knowledge will be transferred to the teams.”
Msoffe also noted that the federation felt that there is a need of having qualified arbitrators, saying they are important components in improving the standard of the sport.
The official added that apart from training referees, the federation will also make sure that they get a large number of competent personnel to be placed in every region to promote the sport from the grassroots level.
Msoffe said a good number of coaches have shown interest to participate in the short course to start on April 10 in northern city and have started registering for the training.
He urged interested referees to make use of the trainings to improve their understanding of the game and earn national and international recognition.
"We hope that after the course, the referees will be well equipped to perform their duties better and pass the expertise to the grassroots to unearth new talents," he said.