PhD, Associate Professor S.N. Belyaev¹
PhD, Associate Professor V.V. Belyaeva¹
PhD, Associate Professor J.I. Tikhonova^1
1Institute of Physical education and Sport of Penza State University, Penza

Keywords: sports referee, competition organising and servicing, refereeing categories, Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course.

Background. Refereeing service is ranked among the most responsible and difficult in modern sports. Individual scrupulous objectiveness, integrity and high working capacity rather than appointments determine a referee’s reputation and progress. Referees are considered the closest, faithful and fair helpers of athletes on their way to the highest sport accomplishments. Knowing a specific refereeing situation, referees work hard not only for their own authority but to contribute to the athletes’ progress and encourage the young people’s interest and inflow in sports.

Individual qualities of referees including courage, objectivity, perfect knowledge of the rules of competitions and refereeing practices, tactfulness and culture may largely contribute to the popularity of the events and be of highest cultural effect on each of the participating parties (athletes, coaches, event managers and spectators). It is natural for the referees to act as sports educators and promoters. Modern sports are in need of the referees highly competent in the fundamental provisions of the rules rather than only blindly observing them, showing their good thinking and deciding capacity on sports arenas, being creative and capable of analysing and settling the most difficult competitive situations in a highly creative and timely manner [1].

However, presently the national sports community faces problems in the efforts to train new referees to ensure an inflow of the young human resource to the sports. These problems may be addressed within the frame of the existing curricula of physical education and sports institutes and departments in the Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course being included to give the students necessary knowledge and skills, encourage their interest in the refereeing service and motivate them for the refereeing careers.

Objective of the study was to analyse benefits of the Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course in the academic physical education curricula of higher and secondary special sport education establishments.

Methods and structure of the study. Refereeing service should be ranked among the top priority responsibilities and skills of a physical education and sports specialist who opts for a coaching or physical education career. These skills need to be built up as we have mentioned before and, hence, the refereeing service knowledge and skills need to be mastered and developed on a systemic basis. Most favourable academic period for this process is the senior academic one in physical education and sports institutes since senior students normally have some personal competitive experience in the roles of competitors, service staff, volunteers, spectators and even referees in some cases. Such experienced students may be competent enough in the rules of competitions in their vocational sports and prepared to share their knowledge and skills with less experienced peers. However, expert opinion polls demonstrate that knowledge of the rules alone may not be sufficient enough for a person to be able to provide quality organisation, management and refereeing services at a competitive event; since wider competences are needed in the documentation processing, requirements to sport facilities and venues, competitive and warm-up zones, equipment and accessories etc.

With the above purpose in view, Penza State University team has developed and introduced in the academic curriculum the Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course as an elective discipline both in the full-time and correspondence formats. In-class curriculum for this course includes lectures and workshops, self-reliant studies and actual refereeing practices in different sport competitions scheduled by the national, regional and municipal calendar of sports events, particularly those organized in Penza city and Penza region. In addition, students are systemically engaged in the volunteer service at competitions, including the refereeing service provided by those of them who are highly competent in the relevant sports i.e. have good knowledge and practical experience.

Core objective of the Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course is to help students acquire a profound competency in the sport refereeing theory and practice, relevant formal ceremonies, process management and document processing for sport events. Furthermore, the course sets forth the following specific goals:

— Master basics of the competition organising and refereeing service theory and practice;

— Study the referee qualification requirements;

— Master the competition organising and management basics; and

— Apply the acquired knowledge and skills in the practical professional career of a physical education teacher or coach.

Academic progress requirements to the students were specified in the context of the above goals, with the student required to:

- Know the referee qualification and titling requirements;

- Know the rules of competitions for the vocational sport disciplines;

- Know the requirements to the sport facilities and venues, competitive and warm-up zones, equipment and accessories etc.;

- Be competent in the competition organising, management and refereeing services and documentation processing; and

- Be skilful in the precompetitive organising activity, relevant formal ceremonies and refereeing service contracting procedures.

In view of the above considerations, the course was designed to cover the following themes:

Theme 1

Statute of sports referees. Classification of sports referees. Sports referees’ rights and responsibilities. Includes: Refereeing service as an honorary and responsible social work and social phenomenon. Referees’ background education. Present situation with the refereeing service. Rules of competitions and the code of referee’s responsibilities. Key values of the sports refereeing service and attitudes to it. Referee’s ID, badge and uniform. Refereeing records in sports. Key provisions for the refereeing service.

Theme 2

Referee qualification and titling procedure. Qualification requirements applied in the referee qualification and titling procedure. Includes: Referee qualification and titling organisations. Necessary documentation: records, submissions, applications. Participation in the referees’ workshops.

Theme 3

Sport referees’ board. Structure of the sport referees’ board. Statutory activity of the sport referees’ board. Includes: Referees boards of different levels. Statutory activity of the referees’ board presidium. Commission memberships. Workshops, meetings, conferences and other experience sharing events and arrangements. Referees’ attestations. Referee appointment procedure for sport competitions. Inspection service in competitions. Final post-competitive reports of chief referees.

Theme 4

Competition organising and refereeing service in different sports. Includes: Requirements to competition venues. Numbers of referees, volunteers and other service personnel. Equipment including sport apparatuses (quality, numbers etc.). Conveniences for spectators, including public catering and transportation services. Advertisement, booklets, tickets. Reception and accommodation services to athletes, referees, official delegations, spectators etc. Mass media accreditation procedures. Health service, police and security service. Responsibilities of the competitive event director and superintendent. 

Theme 5

Formal ceremonies in competitions, their organisation and management requirements and procedures. Includes: Organisation of the formal opening part of the competitive event, with the script drafting and approval procedure; inviting authorities, veterans, honorary citizens, creative teams etc.; public awareness service: radio, scoreboards etc.; musical illustrations including marches, anthems, flourishes etc.; flag raising ceremonies; award presentation ceremony; event closure ceremony; rehearsals.

Theme 6

Competitive documentation. Includes: Statute of competition, its articles and items; objectives and goals; management requirements; time and place of competitions; composition of competing teams; qualification requirements; registration requirements; financial requirements; awarding procedure etc. Competition program: drafting procedure and conditions. Cost estimate for the competitions including referees’ remuneration, procurements, sport facility rental arrangements; service personnel (health service, radio, typists’ service etc.) remuneration conditions; transportation, accommodation, advertising services etc.; reporting requirements, including protocols, reports, archiving requirements, employment contracts, accounts, records etc.; registration of sport records.

In workshops under the course, the students are required to present their sport-specific competition organising and refereeing service reports in the relevant sport disciplines. It should be noted that the available reference literature on the subject is still short in supply and incomplete whilst the competition organising and management policies and practices are updated on a regular basis; and this is the reason why the education course needs a relevant practical tutorial to spell out the objectives and goals of the education process and provide the guiding education materials to the students.

The newly published practical tutorial [2] overviews the relevant legal and regulatory provisions including that of the Russian Sports Register, Sport Refereeing Service Statute; Statutes of the Russian Sport Federations and Referees’ Board etc.; plus the frame provisions for the competition organising and servicing activity; with the requirements to the relevant event management organisations; sport bases, referees; official delegations, captains of the participating sport teams and athletes. In addition, the tutorial offers sample refereeing service documents for competitions of different levels to facilitate the learning process under the new course.

Furthermore, the newly published practical tutorial covers the key provisions for competitions in different sport disciplines including gymnastics, track and field events, team sports, martial arts, water sports, winter sports etc. Materials offered in the tutorial help the students master the theoretical and practical aspects of the competition organising and refereeing service basics; referee qualification requirements; competition organising and management arrangements; and apply the acquired knowledge and skills in their professional physical education careers.

Study results and discussion. The Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course has provided a great impetus to retired academic athletes for starting up their refereeing careers. Students of the institute have contributed many times to the competition organising and management process in different events for their academic period including Triathlon European Cup; European Motor Sport Championship; Russian Championships in track and field events, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, basketball, volleyball and some other sports. Furthermore, the students have assisted in the competition organising and management process in Russian Sport Contests, Universiades and other tournaments hosted by the region. In addition, they have served on a regular basis at formal mass sport events of the regional and municipal levels including the municipal and governor-sponsored relay races; GTO tests; competitions under the auspices of the Ministry or Defence; school sport contests etc.

The Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course must be delivered by competent education specialists having good competition organising, managing and refereeing experience gained in different-level competitions including international ones.

Conclusion. The Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course was implemented in the standard education curriculum of the Physical Education and Sports Department as an elective discipline. Many course graduates have got their referee qualifications in vocational sports and, have been actively working in different-level competition organising and refereeing services upon graduation. Their competences and skills have enabled them to qualify for positions of referees, chief referees and referees’ board members.

References

1. Belyaev S.N. Sotsialny status sudi po legkoy atletike [Referee's social status of a judge in athletics]. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury, 2003, no. 9, pp. 37-38.
2. Belyaev S.N. Osnovy organizatsii i sudeystva sorevnovaniy. Uchebno-metod. posobie [Fundamentals of organization and judging of competitions. Teaching aid]. Penza: PSPU publ., 2009, 128 p.

Corresponding author: ffkpqpu@mail.ru

Abstract

The study was designed to analyse benefits of the Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course in the academic physical education and sports curricula of higher and secondary special sport education establishments. The course includes lectures and workshops plus self-reliant education and practical refereeing modules in different sport disciplines, the practices being scheduled to the relevant national, regional and municipal competitive events in Penza and Penza region.

The Competition Organising and Refereeing Service Basics course was implemented in the standard education curriculum of the Physical Education and Sports Department as an elective discipline.  The students who opted for the course have notably contributed to the organisation and provisioning process in many high-ranking events including Triathlon European Cup, European Motor Sport Championship, Russian championships and finals in track and field sports, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, basketball, volleyball and some other sports. They have also assisted in the organisation and servicing of Russian Sport Festivals, Universiades and other tournaments hosted by the region. Many graduates of the course have been successfully qualified as referees in their vocational sports and made progress in the competition organising and refereeing in events of different levels. The practical background provided by the course enables them to work at competitions as referees, chief referees and members of refereeing teams.