It isn’t every day that a four time Olympian helps us out by instructing candidates at a Beach Referees Course – but on Saturday and Sunday 22/23 May 2010 that is what happened. Organised by Colin Paterson for the Beach Commission, the Saturday event was held at the Sailing Club in St Andrews. The instructor was Jeff Brehaut who has refereed two Olympic Finals and who is one of CEV’s and FIVB’ s chief instructors. Sandy Steel, another four time Olympian, was also there.
Sunday was held at the beach in Portobello in conjunction with the Scottish Universities Beach Volleyball Championships – right on the route of the Edinburgh Marathon! So Jeff got to see another form of athletics up close and personal.
The good news is that we now have seven new Grade 3 Beach Volleyball referees!
Well done to all who took part – and a special thanks to Jeff for coming up to Scotland to give us the benefit of his great experience. He is now off on the World Tour as a senior representative.
What is a Beach Volleyball Referees Course?
Grade 4 consists of a theoretical session, covering rules and cases. Scoring techniques are also covered. The Grade 3 took the candidates up a level and focussed on practical refereeing with feedback. Practical refereeing includes scoring and line judging and application of the techniques and rules learned on the Grade 4.
Refereeing Centre Court at each Scottish Tour Event is paid per match. There is a Volleyball to Beach Volleyball refereeing conversion course in the pipeline. Contact Sandy Steel either directly or through the SVA Office to get involved. You’ll love it!