SUPERVISOR'S REPORT 2003

OPENING REMARKS

The 2002/03 basketball season was another busy but very successful season as we achieved many of our objectives.  Our President, Jon Hunt, did a commendable job in dividing up the various tasks and ensuring a measurable action plan was implemented and administered.  It is becoming more and more visible to the membership that our duties and responsibilities are extended pretty much over the course of the entire year.  Our Executive is extremely pleased with the support offered by many of our officials.

The increased recognition of the game throughout our province and the demands such popularity places on our association to provide a service at every level is still perhaps the greatest challenge our organization faces.  We need to continue to identify and recruit young officials who can be developed so we can provide well qualified and consistent officiating to support the many levels of basketball.  We have recently published a recruitment brochure that should assist us in reaching potential candidates and promote officiating as a career opportunity.

We are extremely pleased with the manner in which our officials are maintaining their individual profile and improving the quality of their officiating.   We encourage our officials to attend the CABO camps and any other educational opportunities, which is supported through our professional development program. 

One area that needs to be addressed is the discontentment of our membership concerning the many sets and variations of rules.  Hopefully, Roger and I will gain some insight during our meeting that will assist us in resolving the issue.

THREE-PERSON OFFICIATING - AUS WOMEN - 2003/04:

My colleagues and I were very much involved in the proposal of the three-person system for the AUS women's competitions.   Much deliberation transpired prior to finalizing the proposal that was presented to Coaches and Athletic Directors by John Walsh, on behalf of the AUS Officials.  The proposal highlighted the advantages of the three-person system, improved coverage, cost, consistency from coast to coast, as well as officials' development. 

We strongly supported the immediate implementation of crews of three and we wanted to have this decision dealt with and finalized at the annual general meeting of the AUS, at the latest.  We wanted to begin the new season without controversy and avoid the possible distractions which not having an agreement on this issue could possibly present in the fall. We received a less than favorable response from the AUS and therefore will maintain status quo.  We wish to thank John Walsh for his leadership in this area.

ACAA:

Our relationship with the ACAA continues to be positive as we maintained ongoing dialogue regarding rules, championships, national tournaments and rates.  Decisions made at last year's national championships concerning the selection process were well received.  The ACAA adopted the three-person system in their league however have identified a number of changes they would like us to consider to improve the overall quality of officiating in this league.  We are presently negotiating new rates.

AUS:

We are now in our last year of our two-year agreement and anticipate a number of contentious issues will need to be resolved before we can reach an agreement (i.e. one area of concern for the AUS will be the lack of officials in the Cape Breton area).  Our college panel, consisting of 28 officials (including 4 female officials), has seen a number of changes that presented some controversy during the process.

BASKETBALL NOVA SCOTIA:

We have had numerous discussions with BNS and our lines of communication have significantly improved through the support of Ed McHugh, President of BNS (official) and Jon Hunt, President of NSBO.   Although Basketball Nova Scotia has been very supportive of developmental opportunities for Nova Scotia officials they have also presented us with problems which could have been avoided.  Our province supports any initiative that will result in Canada Basketball improving their relationship with us and contributing to our service delivery.

NATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS:

More and more officials from every part of Canada have been given the opportunity to work with officials from other provinces at various national tournaments.  It is our belief that such opportunities are valuable and contribute to the official's growth and development as well as contributes to Nova Scotia's overall performance in officiating.  Our Provincial Evaluator, Reg Jewkes, attended the national evaluator's clinic and found the entire experience most rewarding and beneficial to his development as an evaluator.  Based on Reg's feedback, it is clear that the clinic proved to be a great learning experience and will facilitate a more consistent and standardized evaluation process.

Nova Scotia will continue to nominate the most qualified and experienced officials to work national tournaments.

The following officials represented Nova Scotia at national tournaments:

Realizing CABO's five-year plan for allocating officials to national tournaments is being revised to reflect some of the decisions made during the last couple of seasons (i.e. crew chiefs), it is imperative that the final plan is fair, clear and receives approval.   Hopefully, the revised plan will be more favorable for Nova Scotia.

AWARDS:

The Rod Shoveller Award was presented to a young university student attending Acadia University - Ryan Lutz of Wolfville.   The Frank Baldwin Award was presented to Gil Ross of Halifax.   Both awards were presented at this year's Rod Shoveller Tournament.

CONCLUSION:

During the past year, we have been extremely pleased with the communication between CABO Executives and us.  Although we may not always be in full agreement with the decisions made, we are always well informed of any decisions taken.  We will continue to encourage more participation in Post Play by our membership as we believe in the value of the publication.  Congratulations to all the new national evaluators and we are especially pleased with the quality of the evaluators selected in the Atlantic provinces.