Hosted by the Northern Marianas Volleyball Association, the clinic took place from morning to afternoon at the Marianas High School Gym.
Of the 18 people, mostly high school students and a few veteran players, seventeen finished the one-day free clinic earning them certificates of completion and brand new referee’s whistles.
NMIVA president Laurie Peterka, enthusiastically shared, “we were very pleased with the turn out. It was a very interactive group and it was clear that everyone learned something that they didn’t know before.”
As part of its commitment to redirecting its efforts in bringing up NMI volleyball to a higher level, NMIVA worked with coach Nick Gross and James Feger to organize the referees’ clinic aiming to produce a pool of referees who can help improve the quality of volleyball in the CNMI.
“You know, I’ve been playing this game my whole life. These new FIVB rules for 2009-2012 really make a big difference in how to ref the games. This was new even for me. I am so glad that we have this clinic so that we can start teaching our young players by the new rules,” says veteran player and NMIVA secretary Mili Saiki.
The participants completed a total of eight hours of review, which included equal time in lecture and examining video clips as well practical time at the volleyball court learning, sharing and practicing various refereeing skills with each other.
Each of them received FIVB’s 2009 refereeing guidelines and instructions, FIVB Rules of the Game, Official Volleyball Rules 2009-2012, FIVB’s volleyball official hand signals chart, NMIVA certificate of completion and free entry into FIVB’s VCP Referee Course.
They brand new, official referee’s whistle given to them also symbolized their completion of the training.
Peterka said, the NMIVA board extends a big thank you to everyone who made this event possible and offers its congratulations to all the participants.
For more information please visit www.nmivolleyball.org or email [email protected].
