New Referee Administration Officer – Michael Lake
Basketball Queensland would like to congratulate the 6 QLD referees who have been selected to attend the Under 14 National Club Championships in Dandenong in October! This is an outstanding achievement, and a testament to their skills as referees, as officials were selected based on their performance over the last 12 months. We caught up with the other 3 QLD referees to find out what their future refereeing goals are, and find out what they are looking forward to most about attending Nationals!
Elliot Lynch
Association: Townsville Basketball Association
19-year-old Elliot Lynch is one of the six Queensland referees selected to attend the Under 14 National Club Championships in Dandenong next month. Elliot has been refereeing for almost 5 years, having initially started at Southern Districts as it gave him an opportunity to constantly be around basketball! – and was also a good way to make a bit of extra money. Through refereeing, Elliot has learnt to deal with all kinds of people and situations and the methods to manage them. He also loves the social side and being able to meet fellow referees, athletes, coaches and staff from all over Queensland.
Elliot’s selection to attend the U14 Nationals is a major achievement, and he is looking forward to taking advantage of this opportunity to continue developing his skillset and progress as a referee. Elliot plans to go as far as refereeing will take him, and wants to officiate at more national tournaments, QBL and other state-wide and national competitions.
Taylor Folker
Association: Logan Basketball Association
Taylor has been refereeing on and off for the past 4 years, and has been refereeing full time over the last 3 years. Taylor’s selection to attend the Under 14 Nationals is highly commendable, as she has been chosen based on her referee performance over the last 12 months, having also refereed at BQJBC and State Champs during this time. Taylor is looking forward to learning new skills from the other referees and officials attending the upcoming Under 14 Nationals, and meeting new people who will be able to offer a different perspective on the game.
Taylor’s advice for anyone who’s thinking about getting into refereeing is: “Just give it a go! It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any experience, just get on the court and have a run around and the rest will come. Talk to other referees and listen to their experiences and stories. You might get inspired. It’s definitely something I would recommend, you will learn so much and pick up new skills and meet a lot of great people along the way.”
Luke Pickard
Association: Rockhampton Basketball Association
21-year-old Luke Pickard has been refereeing for 9 years. He was selected to attend the Under 14 Nationals after he was asked by BQ’s Referee Development Manager, Madi Crowley who had seen him referee at the Under 18 State Championships and at the Australian Schools Championships. Luke is looking forward to continuing to develop his referee abilities and gaining knowledge from some different referee educators and refereeing some high quality basketball! He is also looking forward to the social aspect, as Tournaments are a great chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.
His advice for anyone thinking about getting into refereeing is: “If you are considering getting into refereeing I would definitely recommend it. Refereeing is a great opportunity to get involved with basketball. It will certainly challenge you. It has given me the chance to go around Queensland and now Australia, being a big part of some really good basketball.”
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