World Squash Federation Conference Attracts World's Top Referees

Next month's 9th World Squash Refereeing Conference in Chennai, hosted by the Squash Rackets Federation of India, has attracted referees from all corners of the globe.

Titled Towards World-Class Refereeing: A Program For Improvement, the two-day World Squash Federation conference will be held in the city formerly known as Madras from 4-5 December - immediately before the 21st ICL Men's World Team Championships, which will take place in Chennai from 6-12 December.

"The Conference will provide an excellent opportunity for referees from around the world not only to discuss the latest developments in international refereeing, but also to receive the latest information about the comprehensive WSF programmes for improving refereeing, including the Competency Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) programme," said WSF Chief Executive Christian Leighton.

"The programmes are designed to help all WSF Member Nations develop their own programmes for the training and assessing of referees from basic to advanced levels. The newly adopted criteria for International Referees will also be explained."

Leighton is keen stress the significance of staging the Conference alongside the WSF World Championship: "The WSF has an ongoing objective to increase the quality and pool (quantity) of accredited referees. This responds to the demands of a growing World Squash calendar. Many Regional and National level referees will be in attendance, so it is a prime opportunity to reach a group of officials that one day could become WSF referees," explained the Federation chief.

There will be presentations on 'Achieving consistency and excellence in backswing, access and minimal interference'; 'Refining officiating techniques'; and 'Introducing the new CBTA program with emphasis on accreditation criteria, assessing and the importance of mentoring'.

The Conference presenters will be Rod Symington (Canada), a past WSF World Referee and current WSF Assessor; Chris Sinclair (Australia), a WSF World Referee and Assessor; and Damien Green (Australia), a WSF International Referee.

"We expect the forum with PSA players to be extremely valuable and with them will further discuss the electronic 3-referee system," added Sinclair.

Full details of the 9th World Squash Refereeing Conference can be found on the WSF website www.worldsquash.org