‘Aussies, Kiwis can match up with Euros’

After getting the feel of European basketball, FIBA international referee Gabriel White was able to identify factors separating Micronesia from the rest of the world as far as the development of the sport is concerned.

White said basketball associations in Europe enjoy government and private support, financial and human resources, and many opportunities to compete within and outside their zone, bringing their competitiveness and professionalism in the same level as that of the powerhouse squads in various zones.

“Micronesian teams really lack these certain things, maybe because of our location and environment. We lack the physicality, athleticism, and mentality to even come close to the type of play in Europe and some countries in Oceania,” said White, who officiated games in the FIBA Europe Under 20 B-Division Championships in Debrecen, Hungary last month.

The CNMI is part of Micronesia, which is under FIBA Oceania. With the CNMI’s location, its very hard for the Commonwealth to compete with other members of the zone outside Micronesia. Only when the competition is within Micronesia that the CNMI gets to send teams to a zone-sanctioned tournament.

Last year, CNMI sent teams to Guam for the Micronesian Basketball Tournament. Only Guam, Palau, and CNMI had official squads to MBT, while FSM was represented by its players who are based in Guam. Kiribati, Nauru, and the Marshall Islands were not able to sent teams due to funding problems.

This year, Guam will be hosting the 2008 FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament next month and only two other Micronesia teams—Palau and CNMI—were selected to compete in the 19-and-under caging, which will also feature teams from New Caledonia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Tahiti.

Australia will be the team to beat in the Oceania caging with the absence of defending champion New Zealand.

White said New Zealand and Australia are the only teams in Oceania which can match the level of play in FIBA Europe.

The CNMI’s first FIBA international referee will be officiating games in the Oceania caging and it will be a great experience to see how other teams from Oceania plays compared to the teams which played in the FIBA European youth caging.

“The type of play in Europe during the tournament was big, physical, and team-oriented. It is big because of the big number of countries represented in FIBA Europe, and the players are tall. It is physical because players are not only big and fast, but are athletic, very fundamentally sound, and know the game very well from many different aspects,” said White.

“And it is team-oriented because every player has been introduced to play all of the five positions on the court. They are all taught to shoot, and share the ball in a disciplined and structured program. That is simply the way in which the international style of basketball is played,” he added.

Next month in Guam, White, who was the lone referee from Oceania to officiate games in the European tournament, will be meeting with FIBA Oceania secretary general Steve Smith to discuss his next assignment.

For now, he is thankful for the experience of officiating games in FIBA Europe and meeting fellow referees.

“I had the pleasure of meeting and working with all of these people, conversing and dining with them, and really having a great time getting to know them more to build long-lasting relationships,” he said.