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Important Memo to All ACAC Referees & Evaluators

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-11-18T13:29:17-07:00

Important Memo to All ACAC Referees & Evaluators

Hi folks,

Welcome to a new season even though we are a month and a half into it already!

Everyone should be well into mid season form and getting comfortable with 3 person mechanics. If not, you need to study them, work scrimmages and observe your peers at games to get to a solid and comfortable foundation. If you're thinking about positioning, you are not focused on making calls and good judgment. I accept there is a learning curve for first year officials but 2nd year and beyond the mechanics should be in your back pocket now.

I've attached the updated Guidelines Tip to Horn which covers everything I can think of as it pertains to ACAC basketball. I need you to study this document so we are all working from the same game plan. While it's a general guideline with some emphasis on the specifics, it will assist in your movements on the court to get the calls right. Remember there's no magic spot, work to get open looks and accept the play!

There's a lot to cover but most of it is in the Guidelines so I will focus on three basic emphases... Court Mechanics, Patience in Accepting the Play and Leadership, Courage & Humility.

Court Mechanics...I will ask the Evaluators to observe your movements on the court. Does it look like you are comfortable, reading plays by anticipating the action and moving with purpose & confidence. If not, again more study is required.

Patience in Accepting the Play...again this is covered in Guidelines but at this level we are looking for the official in the best possible position to make the majority of calls. That means we want to be strong side as much as possible and calls should come from within your Primary Coverage. If too many calls are in your secondary, the crew is not together. Obviously, we want correct calls as well so judgment is important. As a crew and with the Evaluators we want to discuss plays. In the end, that's what the game's all about.

Leadership, Courage & Humility...leadership is not a position. Regardless of whether you are the crew chief, U1 or U2 you are expected at this level to show leadership. That might mean being a student of the game and taking care of your area and what's expected as a first, second or third year official. It means setting an example with your professionalism, effort & hustle and court & locker room presence. It means taking care of the things within your influence & control. Leadership is not being a General standing on a hill watching your troops engaging in battle. Rather it is serving the game to best of your knowledge and experience. It means supporting, directing, encouraging, leading and giving up your need to be right for "what's right" along side your peers. We're not interested in your opinions unless they are supported with facts and credibility. This will sometimes take courage and other times humility to admit a mistake and to give up control.

Courage is required to engage your expertise with some of the rough spots in a game ("one cannot climb a smooth mountain"), but it also takes humility to accept that you might not always know the best way to deal with those rough spots. You know you could use a second or third opinion. "You cannot become a great leader if you have never submitted to those who are now the leaders and have authority."

I will send a couple more memos before Christmas, but I am asking the Evaluators to observe from this vantage point. Have you worked at your game with the resources available to you on the website, at clinics, from your peers and mentors? Or are you comfortable that you know it all and there's no room for improvement or you're too old to learn something new?

Please spend some time with the Guidelines and the Art of Leadership attached.

Have a great season!

Jake Steinbrenner
ABOA Assignor / Evaluator

CABO Exam Announcement

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-11-11T23:15:33-07:00

ABOA Interpreter Morgan Munroe sent the following email to all Boards today:

ABOA Contacts,
I've tried to send this email to as many contacts as I have. Undoubtedly I'll miss some people but I hope the word will get out either by this email being forwarded or by people hearing about it and contacting me directly.

The exam has not arrived yet. There has been a delay at the CABO end. I am hoping for next week but I'm not sure if that is likely to happen.

The answer cards should arrive to your board contact tomorrow or Friday via courier. The instructions for the exam administration are in the package.
Please follow them! When the exam arrives here I'll will send it to each board electronically.
Please send me one email address per board; in the email subject header please use this title 2009 FIBA exam and your board's name so that I can return it to you with the exam.

Until then please be patient as I too am waiting just as you are.

Thanks,
Morgan

ACAC and ASAA Contracts Finalized

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-10-19T16:31:08-06:00

You may see and download the ACAC Contract 2009-2012 and the ASAA Agreement 2010-2012 on the Policies page.

50 years for Wamsley

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-10-18T18:36:08-06:00

Oct 17, 2009, Ken and Gwen Wamsley celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Both Ken and Gwen are grads of Western Canada High School in Calgary. Both played basketball, and Ken coached the senior girls in his senior year. Almost ten years in the NWT saw help in organizing, playing, coaching and officiating for the Inuvik basketball league, as well as the formation of the NWT B/B association. Ken was also a participant for the NWT at the first Canada Games in Quebec City in 1967. Ken was a long time (1971) member of the ABOA for both able bodied and wheel chair, as well as doing various clinics and evaluations over the years. Awarded a life ABOA membership in 2003. Ken is still involved with the CABOA covering ACAC, and the ABOA during provincials.

ABOA News Available through RSS Feed

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-10-07T15:11:24-06:00

As of today, I have combined the News and Blog pages on this site into a single page. If you know how to set up an RSS feed on your computer, you can now receive updated ABOA directly as it is posted on the website. Go to the News and Blog page and click on the RSS feed logo to set up your feed. If you do not know how to set up an RSS feed, please google for help. Although I would like to help you personally, I honestly do not have the time to assist hundreds of people. Hopefully you understand.

Refresher Exam Corrections

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-10-05T14:06:37-06:00

The original Refresher Exam had part of the last question, #50, cut off. The revised version contains the full question. It is available on the Education page or the Downloads page. The KEY has also been revised. The correct answer to question 5 should be YES.

September Newsletter Released

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-10-07T14:05:27-06:00

The September Issue of Stripes, the ABOA Newsletter was emailed today. If you did not receive a copy by email, it means that we do not have a correct email in our membership list for you. If you would like to be mailed future issues of the Newsletter and other important ABOA Updates directly, please go to the Contact Us page and fill in the form.

You may also read the latest issue on the Newsletters page.

Reresher Exam

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-09-24T14:04:14-06:00

ABOA Interpreter Morgan Munroe has released the 2009 Refresher Exam and Key. Click here to go to the Education page.

Ritchie Nicurity Scholarship

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-09-21T13:52:22-06:00

Stephanie Norlee wins Ritchie-Nicurity Scholarship

SABOA's Stephanie Nordlee was announced as a recent winner of the CABO's Ritchie-Nicurity Scholarship. Stephanie is currently the Vice President of SABOA and holds 3.64 GPA as a Kinesiology student at the University of Lethbridge. Last season Stephanie moved onto the ACAC list and after attending camps in both the United States and Canada this past summer she was awarded a Canada West contract to officiate at the CIS level for the upcoming season.

Stephanie was one 13 candidates vying for the six Ritchie/Nicurity Scholarships. From an academic standpoint this group was one of the highest achieving groups since the inception of the award. Two of the winners included a PhD candidate and another working on an MBA.

This is Alberta's 2nd consecutive Nicurity winner as last year's award went to Andrew Poetker.

Six $500.00 scholarships are awarded annually to student officials in an open cross-Canada competition. The scholarships were created to honour Bill Ritchie of New Brunswick and Bryan Nicurity of Saskatchewan, both of whom are past Presidents of CABO and both Ted Earley Award recipients. Both Bryan and Bill are honoured members of the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

ABOA Award Winners

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-09-20T13:45:12-06:00

2009 ABOA Annual Award Winners

The following awards were presented at the Fall Clinic.

Excellence at the Provincial Level
(Co-winners)

Kelsey Kisilevich
VBOA

Trevor Viney
SABOA

Excellence at the National Level
(Co-winners)

Troy Eagar
CBOA

Stephane Labonne
EBOA

ABOA Builders Award

Jake Steinbrenner
EBOA

Click here for Jake's biography

Wink Willox Award

Daryl Paustian
EBOA

Click here for Daryl's biography

National Officials Certification Program

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-08-24T13:40:29-06:00

ALBERTA BASKETBALL OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION
National Certification Program
“Training the Trainers”

At long last basketball will join all mainstream sports in Canada and have a national officiating certification program! This long awaited program will allow local boards to train and evaluate members using a standardized process. This will allow members within Alberta to be more consistently trained as well as allow easier integration of officials who move here from other provinces.

Friday September 11th and Saturday 12th, 2009
Mount Royal College, Calgary
Room Y 222
Times: Friday 6:30 pm-9:30 pm
Saturday 8:00am-10:00 am

Course Conductor: Jim Cervo CABO National Education Officer

All manuals and audiovisual materials will be provided. This course is for local education officers and/or their designates. Those who attend should be prepared to take the leadership role in implementing the national certification program in their respective local boards.

NOTE:
The ABOA provincial clinic will start Saturday morning after the completion of the national certification session. There are some funds available to reduce the costs for those traveling to attend this session. The available funding will be allocated after the clinic and will be based on a formula that will be finalized by the end of August. Please car pool where practical and book rooms with shared occupancy to reduce costs.

Please confirm your attendance as soon as possible to mmmunroe@shaw.ca

Morgan Munroe
Interpreter

Official and Assignors fromMen's U15

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-08-17T13:37:12-06:00

Officials and Assignors from the Men's U15 National Championships in Kamloops this past summer

L to R: Dave Werry A/E (Regina SK); Chris Brischuk (Regina SK); Ryan Quinlan (Bowmanville ON); Paul Rocca (Lethbridge AB); Keith Hampe (Prince George BC); Wes Steele (Langley BC); Mike Maryk (Winnipeg MB); Rob Weller (Kelowna BC); Dindo Cobarrubias (Vancouver BC); Jake Steinbrenner A/E (Edmonton AB)

Daryl Paustian Passes

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-08-14T13:33:32-06:00

I was informed

today by Gil Desmarais that longtime EBOA official and provincial evaluator Daryl Paustian has passed, having lost his battle against cancer.

I will have more information on this site as soon as possible.

Edmonton Journal, Aug 19, 2009

Click here for the Daryl's Wink Willox biography.

Michael Weiland Awarded FIBA card

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-08-12T13:29:03-06:00

Congratulations

to Michael Weiland who was recently award his international FIBA card after attending a certification camp in Colorado Springs in late June. Michael joins Karen Lasuik and Perry Stothart as ABOA FIBA-carded officials.

National Appointments Announced

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-07-14T13:19:04-06:00

ABOA Evaluation Chair Jake Steinbrenner announced the following appointments to the National Championships in Kamloops, BC from Aug 4-8:

U15 Boys
Paul Rocca
SABOA

U15 Boys Assignor/Evaluator
Jake Steinbrenner
EBOA

U15 Girls
Frankie Billingsley
EBOA

Other Assignor/Evaluators this past season include Bill Carr (CBOA) at the CIS Men's Championships and Grant Stewart (CBOA) at the ACAC Men's Championships.

CABO Scholarship Information CABO Scholarship Information CABO Scholarship Information

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-07-13T13:15:57-06:00

Bill Carr, ABOA Supervisor, would like to remind everyone about scholarship opportunities available through your membership in the ABOA & CABO.

The first is the Ritchie/Nicurity scholarship which provides some financial assistance to ABOA officials who will be enrolled in some post secondary institution this fall. Six of these scholarships are available nationally to members of CABO. Further information about these scholarships can be found on the CABO website, http://www.cabocanada.org/. Simply click on the website & follow the links for an application form, information on how to apply & what is required to support your application. Applications are made directly to CABO's Vice President, Jim Walsh as per the website instructions.

The second scholarship opportunity for ABOA members is designed to assist selected ABOA officials attend an approved officiating camp this summer to broaden their basketball officiating skills. Through CABO, each province is allocated $500.00 for this program. For further information about these scholarships, please refer to the ABOA website, http://www.refalberta.ca. Simply go to the website & follow the links under the Education heading on the left side of the screen. Applications, along with supporting documentation should be sent to ABOA's Supervisor, Bill Carr at bill.carr@telus.net.

Tommy Nunez - A Really Great Guy

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-09-15T19:03:29-06:00

Tommy Nunez is one of the Good Guys. He is articulate, humourous and just a whole lot of fun to be around. Oh yah, he also officiated for 30 years in the NBA and he is the first and only Hispanic official in any major league sport in the United States.

All of these qualities were evident at the ABOA Fall Officials Clinic in Calgary. Tommy was able to keep over 100 officials laughing and engaged during his presentations. Tommy might be a former NBA official but his talks reached out to officials at all levels. As he says, basketball officiating is all about the basics and that applies at every level. When he wasn't in front of the audience, he was chatting with everyone, making friends with all.

During the recent ABOA Fall Clinic, I had the opportunity to interview Tommy Nunez. Most of what I learned is available on Tommy's website at http://www.tommynunezfoundation.com/. If you take a look at the site, you can read all about the Tommy Nunez Foundation. It says:
"Nuñez calls it giving something back. But others see him as a classic role model of what can be achieved despite a shaky start. When he isn’t officiating or working with the league in some other capacity, he’s speaking to kids from coast to coast, organizing summer sports camps, youth programs or directing his National Hispanic Basketball tournament. Giving something back is a full time job for Tommy Nuñez, but he hasn’t done it without recognition. He is included in volume one of the book “Hispanic Heroes of the U.S.A.” and has been named to the Laredo Latin American Sports Hall of Fame. He shrugs and says simply: “I’m just somebody from their background that they can listen to and believe in” he says. “I was a nobody all of my life, it’s nice to be a somebody.”

Click here to see three one-minute videos from my interview with Tommy.

Also check this story on Tommy in the Edmonton Sun.

Tommy Nunez Coming to ABOA Clinic

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-08-14T15:47:51-06:00

I just received word from Jake Steinbrenner that former NBA official Tommy Nunez will be the featured speaker at the ABOA provincial clinic on Sept 12 and 13. Tommy Nunez retired after 30 years in the NBA and continues to operate the Tommy Nunez Foundation. You can read more at http://www.tommynunezfoundation.com/.

Big Announcement for Fall Clinic Coming

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-07-17T13:49:25-06:00

A little birdie tells me that the ABOA clinic on September 11-13 will have an exciting guest speaker. I have been sworn to secrecy but think you will be impressed with the announcement later on this site.

Welcome to Our Blog

kenrunquist@mac.com — 2009-07-12T13:26:17-06:00

I am excited about the launch of our new look website. Over the next few weeks we will continue to add content to the site. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Ken Runquist
Webmaster