President’s Report to Fall 2007 AGM

The spring and summer have proven to be a busy one for NSBO as we continue to advance the organization towards meeting our objectives of officiating basketball in the most consistent and professional ways possible.  However I first wish to begin by publicly thanking our past President, Sam McNeish for all his tireless efforts in fulfilling the role over his tenure and his ongoing support and advice as I have begun mine.  It can be extremely time-consuming and it is only through dedicated members like Sam that our organization can continue to flourish and meet the demands as the sport of basketball continues to grow in our province both in quantity and quality at all levels.

Perhaps our greatest challenge over the past six months has been to plan for the implementation of FIBA rules and mechanics across the province.  This year BNS again hosted a series of pre-national tournaments over the summer months which utilized the new rule set.  This meant needing to provide the necessary training to the officials that would work these tournaments during a time when many of us are in vacation mode.  I wish to thank Roger Caulfield, our Provincial Interpreter, for holding rules clinics in advance of these tournaments in the areas in which they were held and to the members who took the time on hot sunny evenings to attend.  These tournaments were opened to applicants from across the province and I also wish to thank those who made and followed through with the commitment to officiate this challenging level of basketball.  Reports indicate that the tournaments ran smoothly and good rules knowledge and application was the basis of this.

NSBO also sponsored an official’s development camp in the form of the Caulfield Camp of Officiating Excellence.  Selected officials were provided with classroom and on-court instruction as well as critical analysis of their officiating as we endeavor to meet the developmental needs of our organization.  Again, thanks to Roger Caulfield and several others who made this camp a success.  I have received some excellent reports on the officiating skills displayed and the improvement noticed based on the feedback given.

Perhaps our biggest event is the provincial clinic targeted to all officials with our CABO National Interpreter on September 22^nd in Halifax.  The aim of this clinic is to ensure all officials in the province receive the same instruction with the consistent rule interpretations and the mechanics of implementing them so that we are all on the same page right from the beginning.  This will make the game far easier to follow and adjust to for us as officials, coaches, players and the many others involved in the game.  Many, many hours have went into planning this event from the preparation of presentation materials, the booking of venues, rooms and equipment, the writing of proposals, etc. to name but a few of the required tasks.  Thanks goes to Sam McNeish who initiated this process, to Roger Caulfield who collected the needed information/material ensuring all was accurate and ready to go and especially to Paul Hanson who made it all come together.

I did wish to note, that all the above events present excellent opportunities for learning and development of officials.  We all need to make the commitment to taking advantage them so as to be able to continue to maintain and improve our officiating skills just as players and coaches do, thus advancing the state of the sport in our province. 

Finally, I wish to congratulate Mary Alice Butts and Ryan Lutes on successful performances at the Juvenile Summer Men’s Nationals.  A special thank you goes to the members of the Selection Committee who were able to be involved at the eleventh hour in seeking a substitute candidate to attend this tournament when a severe family illness prevented one of our originally selected individuals from being able to attend and to Ryan Lutes for being able to accept this assignment at truly what was the last minute.

We have many challenges facing us as the sport of basketball continues to grow in the province both in numbers and the intensity of play.  We must work to be prepared for it.  I invite you all to become involved just that little extra bit as I know that by working together with the commitment of all our members, we will be able to meet these challenges.

Respectfully submitted,

Greg Parsons,