Neil Wilkinson Appointed as GB National Instructor for Officiating - Hoopsfix.com

Neil Wilkinson Appointed as GB National Instructor for Officiating

Neil Wilkinson referee

Neil Wilkinson has been appointed as the GB National Instructor for referees for the 2017-18 season, British Basketball has announced.

Neil’s responsibilities will include the recruitment, training and testing of National and International referees in preparation for FIBA’s new Competition System and Calendar, which commences this year. Testing will include verbal, written and fitness assessments of our referees, which aims to promote excellence, professionalism, national and international development in refereeing to meet the requirement of modern day basketball.

Neil is no stranger to officiating, having had 26 years experience in the role. Some of his many experiences include refereeing the men’s final at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, the London prepare series in 2012 and of course several games in the BBL and Euroleague.

“Neil’s experience, within basketball, made him the ideal candidate for the role of National Instructor,” said Chief Executive Lisa Wainwright in a statement.

“He will be pivotal to improving the standard of officiating and growing the pool of talent at every level of the game”.

Wilkinson is elated with the role:

“It is with great pleasure that I have taken on the role of GB National Instructor for officiating. There is a wealth of talent within our basketball community that needs to be showcased. We have a tradition of being a strong Nation within officiating and this must be built upon.

“The role not only embraces the pinnacle of our refereeing but is also about bringing together three nations to be one great force within basketball. To date there has been collaboration, though this has been limited. It seem a waste of resources that we work in silos with the same objective. Good officiating in one nation.

“I see my first key priorities to be the resolution of the licensing procedure bringing together English, Scottish and Welsh referees under the umbrella of Great Britain and sharing our talents and expertise.

“Linked to this is the standardisation of our officials’ education through high calibre education, tutorage and coaching. Finally, I feel that we need to develop a three year plan for officiating with clear milestones and targets to ensure that there is a shared vision, effective resourcing within the funding we have and officiating galvanised to improve at all levels.

“I recall a conversation once when asked ‘where I was from’, from a member of FIBA and I replied ‘Great Britain’, their reply was ‘What is great about it?’. They walked off…I would like to help make officiating ‘great’ a key part of our Great Britain.”

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