RDT Concludes Successful Season
Founded in 2011 by Chris Beesley and Cameron Kim, the Referee Development Team (RDT) was created to improve the quality of officiating in the IQA. This past season, the team certified over 100 head referees in the United States and more than 15 in Canada.
Photo by Alif E. Marchi
Beesley, the team's International Coordinator, explained that the RDT, formerly the Referee Development Program, initially worked with different regions to ensure that they were able to have a self-sustaining staff of head referees. “We got some of the best referees from around the country on the team [by recruiting] them personally right after World Cup V, and since then its become a much more formalized process with HR,” said Beesley. He continued, “Right away people took ownership in their regions and knew they needed to help out so we could get a bunch of certified referees all over the country.” Beesley also noted that there are head referees in Australia, and that the team hopes to expand the process to the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Mexico.
While the team is excited about the progress they have made and the number of referees that have been certified, they've decided to change their strategy in the upcoming season. Dan Hanson, assistant manager of the RDT said, “This year we're really going to switch our focus to training rather than quantity. It worked with the quantity, we got the people [needed] for World Cup VI but some of the same problems still existed. We accomplished our goals numbers-wise but not quality-wise this year.”
Kim, who is now the team's advisor, explained that his main motivation to create the Referee Development Team was to ensure the safety of the players and to standardize refereeing. “I think from the beginning when I came in, referees were seen as somebody that you had [around], somebody who wasn't playing the game, or whoever drew the shortest straw had to go out there and referee the game. I don't think that's a very positive way to look at officiating, especially when our number one priority is to ensure the safety of the players,” Kim explained. Now though, he has noticed a change, citing the excitement he witnessed from referees prior to the World Cup.
In addition to improving the quality of refereeing, the team is also going to expand the certification process in the upcoming season to include assistant referees. Next year to become certified as a head referee, one must pass the written test for bludger referees, a written test for snitch referees, and then the written and field test for head referees.
The team's upcoming focus on training comes from an overall mission described by Program Manager Andrew Canto: “Our main long-term goal is sort of a moving target in that we are always striving to make referees better. Referees will never be perfect, but we are always striving to reach that goal.” He continued, “The more tangible long-term goal is to have certified referees at every position on the field. We are beginning that initiative in the short-term by focusing more on assistant referee training [and] certification.” While having a certified head referee is a requirement for all IQA official games, it is the team's hope that certified assistant referees will soon be standard at all matches, thus increasing the quality of refereeing.
Overall, the RDT is a tight-knit group of IQA staffers. As Hanson noted, “At World Cup VI Chris Beesley rented a condo for five days. We called it Ref Haus. Most of us had met in person, but some of us still hadn't, so a lot of us were meeting each other there. We love working together very very much-- we do function really well as a team while we have a lot of fun. We kind of made it into a little vacation where we got to have a little bit of fun before [the] World Cup and had some adventures together partying in Florida before the Cup.” However, he added, “On Friday before World Cup [VI], we jumped into serious mode and started getting to work on the Cup.”
At World Cup VI it was clear that the RDT's efforts paid off. As Hanson explained, “World Cup VI was such a leap from previous tournaments...I feel like it all came together at World Cup VI where we really saw some amazing games and the improvement in refereeing allowed that to some extent.” With added experience under their belt, increased training, and a more rigorous certification process, refereeing in quidditch will only improve in the coming years.