2021 IWRF Technical Committee (TC) Updates

This past year has been unprecedented for all of us in many ways. First and foremost, the TC hopes that you and your families are all safe during this time of uncertainty.
The TC wishes to keep you as informed as possible in regards to the events of 2021. These events are in the planning and development phase with the intention of them going through to completion. However, in these uncertain times, there is always the possibility of changes to dates, locations and even the possibility of cancellations. As of February 2021, these are the IWRF confirmed sanctioned events planned for 2021:


CANADA CUP
CANCELED

EUROPEAN DIVISION B CHAMPIOSHIP
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Dates: June 27 – July 5
Selection completion: March 30. Possibility that only referees from Poland/European Zone will be selected for this event based on travel restrictions.


2020/2021 PARALYMPIC GAMES
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Dates: August 23 – September 5 Selection completion: SELECTION COMPLETED


2022 AMERICAN ZONE CHAMPIONSHIP
Location: Bogota, Columbia
Dates: January 26 – January 31, 2022
Selection completion: October 2021. This is a 2022 event but selection will be made and finalized in 2021.


Note: these are IWRF sanctioned events only. Contact your Zone head official with any further questions or clarifications.


The IWRF along with the TC has made an extensive effort to assure your safety at events. Please make sure to review Wheelchair Rugby Return to Train and Play – Checklist for Referees, for your reference. We all need to be as prepared as possible and this checklist will assist in that preparation.

The TC has been hard at work, during this unfortunate down time, updating and developing various documents. I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to the committee members for their time and dedication towards this ambitious goal. Here are the documents that will be release in the next few months:

  1. Release of Rules updates February 2021
  2. Release of Casebook updates February 2021
  3. Release of Games Commissioner (formerly Technical Commissioner) manual
    February 2021
  4. Release of Table Officials manual updates March 2021
  5. Release of Referee Mechanics manual updates March 2021
  6. Release of TO Travel Policy April 2021
  7. Release of Rules Change policy updates March 2021

Lastly, the TC would like to offer an opportunity to provide any updates to the referee’s registration database. This is something that we will be doing on an annual basis to assure the TC has the most up to date information on our members as possible. Please use the link below to provide any updates to the database.


https://forms.gle/9wxTb7qVihWRwPfv8


Kind regards,
Darren Roberts
IWRF Technical Commissioner

Updated Score and Penalty Sheets

In 2019 a group of scorers representing each IWRF zone came together to review and update the score and penalty sheets, this group proposed changes in conjunction with the IWRF Technical Committee who presented the updated sheets to the IWRF Board who have approved the changes in 2020.

Please click here to view the new scoresheets.

The new sheets and examples on how to use them are the start with a new updated scores manual to be released in late 2020.

Updates include:
– Use of Red and Black pens to indicate the different periods when recording scores and time outs
– Box for the TC name to be printed
– Box for Ref 1 to sign the sheet at the end of the game
– Boxes for Ref 1 to initial scores at the end of each period
– Female players indicated with an (F) next to their name to assist with counting points
– The scorer will rule lines to form a cross at the end of the game so no further scores can be added
– Boxes to indicate starting 4 players, marked with ‘X’ by the coach A then coach B, a min of 10 mins prior to tip off.
– A simpler penalty sheet, that can be filled in quicker and easier allowing the penalty timekeeper to stay alert and spend more time viewing the game

Special thank you to the following for their work on this update: Liam Costello(IWRF Technical Committee Asia-Oceania Zone Rep), Scorers: Michelle Nichols(AUS), Robert Hubert(DE), Saskia Bjornson(CA), Simon Starr(GB) and Sue Aldridge(GB).

Referee Candidate Application Process

The IWRF Technical Committee has reviewed and updated the processes taken for candidate referees to become a certified international zonal level referee.

There were several aims the committee wanted to achieve:

  • to move away from candidate referees appointed to zonal championships, ensuring we have the best officials on court for tournaments that are so important to teams wanting to qualifying for Paralympic Games and World Championships
  • adding opportunity and recognising that there are several high level tournaments around the world which play under the current IWRF rules which can give referees the opportunity to be evaluated at
  • ensuring candidates have the minimum standards in fitness, rule knowledge and on court performance prior to being evaluated

The updated policy, application form and list of tournaments candidates have the opportunity to be evaluated at can be found here – https://iwrfofficials.com/candidate-application-process/

European B Championship Applications

The IWRF will be holding the following European B Zone Championships in Warsaw, Poland, Dates – July 5-13 (includes departure and arrival).

The IWRF Technical Commission wishes to invite all IWRF qualified officials who would like to be involved in this event to submit their application by the closing date on March 8th, 2020.

Any countries that have candidates wishing to be certified should also apply via this process. Note, candidates will only be considered for referee positions.

The following positions are available for this tournament (The actual numbers may need to be adjusted based on the number of teams in attendance):

1 Head Referee
2 Technical Commissioners
2 Evaluators
8 Referees

Only IWRF qualified officials or candidates will be considered for the referee positions. This form is to be filled out by the official only and not on behalf of anyone.

The selection panel for these events will consist of:

Jon Corson – Vice Chair, Technical Committee
Katja Grotensohn – European Zone Representative
Mitch Carr – Americas Zone Representative
Head referee selected for the event

SELECTION CRITERIA

The following criteria will be used selection of the officials:

1. Recent evaluations
2. Fitness Test
3. Theory Test
4. Number of international tournaments and positions held over the last 2 years
5. Number of national level tournaments over the last 2 years

The IWRF/Technical Committee will retain the right to make assignments due to operational requirements.

NOTE: Late applications will not be accepted

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER – https://forms.gle/4uoaK4noAAjAQA3J9

2020 Tokyo Paralympics Selection

The IWRF would like to congratulate the following individuals for their selection to the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

The selection committee consisted of head official Darren Roberts, assistant head official Jon Corson and the assistant technical delegate Kevin Bowie. I would like to thank Jon and Kevin for their time in the section process.

Various criteria, as listed on the application, were used as the basis for these selections. The IWRF is looking forward to having you as a representative at the event that is considers the panicle of our sport.

HEAD OFFICIAL
Darren Roberts (USA)

ASSISTANT HO
Jon Corson (NZL)

EVALUATORS
Gilles Briere (CAN) Katja Grotensohn

TECHNICAL OFFICIALS(GER) Kerin Banfield (USA) Nicole Hoim (GER)

REFEREES
Alex Schreiner (GER) Chris Shore (CAN) Kristin Hempfling (GER) Liam Costello (AUS) Mitch Carr (USA) Motoko Izumiya (JPN)
Pierre-Alexandre Briere (CAN)
Jaroslaw Malec (POL)

EMERGENCIES
Bob Lopez (USA) – Eval
Donald Dinnington (NZL) – TC

Ryan Gaudet (CAN) – Ref
Josh Kerns (USA) – Ref


Darren Roberts
IWRF Technical Commissioner

Working together to achieve a Legal Ball Holder

FULL ARTICLE – working-together-to-achieve-a-legal-ball-holderDownload

By Kevin Bowie, Technical Commission Representative and IWRF Referee

As of the publishing of this article, two zone qualification tournaments have been completed. Over the course of each event officials have been working hand in hand with team staff, manufacturers and athletes to find legal solutions that support the ball. As a Technical Commission we have been extremely impressed with how collaborative this process has been. Thank you to all of the team staff and athletes who have made yourselves available and worked with us to make adjustments that have resulted in legal ball holders that work for athletes as well as officials.


On a personal note I would like to thank Mike Turner at Melrose for his efforts at the European Championship. Working hand in hand with manufacturers is so important to the process. Collaboration and creative ideas are instrumental to ensuring athletes have functional and achievable solutions. In this article our goal is to share some of the solutions we have implemented, what level of support the officials are looking for in the chair check and the process we undertook to find solutions. We believe that a key element in the process is ongoing transparency and open dialog with all stakeholders.

Click on the link above for the full document.

2019 WWRC Selection

This letter is to inform the members about the selection process that will be used for World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge (WWRC) in Tokyo, October 2019.  This event will carry a great amount of exposure and an expectation of top tier professionalism, considering the relationship that the IWRF is working to establish with World Rugby (WR).  As this event will occur prior to the quarterfinals of the World Rugby Championships, it presents a unique opportunity for the IWRF to demonstrate a top level of performance that wheelchair rugby has to offer.  This, along with other criteria established by the IWRF and WWRC, makes the selection process similar to the World Championships and the Paralympics.  

With this in mind, the following criteria will be used in the selection of the positions for WWRC:

OFFICIALS:

1. World level officials will be given priority for selection, and then Zone level officials will be considered. If more than two officials qualify from the nations in attendance, the average of the three most recent evaluations will be used to determine the selection.

2. Preference will be given to countries in attendance. Officials with the average evaluation of 85 or lower will not be considered.

3. As the host country, Japan are guaranteed a spot for an official.

4. Successful completion of the fitness test in the past year.

EVALUATORS:

1. Only certified evaluators will be considered.

2. Input from 360-evaluation process will be considered.

TECHNICAL COMMISSIONERS:

1. Has been selected as Technical Commissioner outside of their zone.

2. Input from 360-evaluation process will be considered

The following individuals will be part of the committee making the selection based on the criteria listed above:• Stan Battock – Technical Delegate• Kevin Bowie – Assistant Technical Delegate• Darren Roberts – WWRC Head Official• Jon Corson – Vice Chair IWRF Technical Committee

Individuals considered for the above positons will be based on applications submitted from the most recent zone championships, as well as individual who qualify based on the listed criteria.  Various tournament requirements may determine other selections outside of the listed criteria.

Once the selection committee has determined the best-qualified persons, they will be contacted to determine their availability. 

The IWRF and its officials have been given an opportunity to perform at their highest level at the WWRC. It is the goal of this selection process to ensure that we are able to provide a level of expertise and skill that the sport of wheelchair rugby deserves. 

Darren Roberts

IWRF Technical Commissioner