The Vanuatu Netball Federation has selected 16 bench officials who have undergone one week of training on how to carry out their duties during a game.
A New Zealand Instructor for Netball Oceania, Belinda Clark, conducted theory and practical training for the Ni Vanuatu bench officials team.
“The bench officials are the people that keep the score sheets, keep shooting statistics, keep the time of the game, control the time of the game, help the umpires to manage the game, ensure the scoring is accurate, as well as the centre passes, and the smooth running of the games,” she said.
“Some of them were at the Pacific Games in PNG in 2015 so we are using them as supervisors and once they complete this training, they will have the skills to be able to continue training the bench officials so the new ones are ready for the Games in December.
“We have some new officials that have never done it before so we are giving them some skills and they will get accreditation under the International Netball Federation rules to be certified bench officials for the Games.”
Belinda said these 16 bench officials will all be working during the games, and they will be divided in two teams of seven per game, to allow them time after each game to complete shooting statistics, as all the games are close together.
She said to become a certified bench official the participant, who preferably is a netball player, has to do workshops, attend training, and to officiate at practice games on regular basis as well as in real games.
“There are three levels: regional, national and international. So the ladies that are new will start off with regional; by the Games some of them will have national accreditation, and there are three of them who already are at national level at the moment, so they will get to international level,” said Mrs Clark.
Vanuatu Netball Association is planning to organize local practice games and tournaments as preparation for the upcoming Games.
According to the Pacific Mini Games Sport Schedule, the netball competition will be in the second week, from December 11-15, and to date, four teams have confirmed their participation.
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