Former Olympian, WNBA player holds seminar

FIBA Oceania development manager (sports administration) Annie La Fleur, fifth left, demonstrates to the participants how to call a foul during a referee course yesterday at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

FIBA Oceania development manager (sports administration) Annie La Fleur is in town conducting basic coaching and refereeing course at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Le Fleur, who played for the Australian Women’s National Team that won the silver in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games held in Sydney and also saw action in the Women’s National Basketball Association with the Minnesota Lynx (199) and the Washington Mystics (2001-2003), arrived on Saipan last Wednesday morning and buckled down to work the same day, holding an administration course from 1pm to 4pm before conducting drills for the CNMI Women’s Junior national team pool from 5pm to 6pm.

Yesterday, her morning session focused on table officials and statistician course, while in the afternoon, she held a referee course for more than 20 participants. The 47-year old former pro and a veteran coach in the Land Down Under then made on court assessments on referees and table officials last night.

“We had a great turn out for the beginners referees workshop. All of these participants were beginners and the session you saw was the theory session. This was to give them a basic introduction to refereeing with the practical session on the court during a game. It was great to see so many young people participating because they are the future of basketball on Saipan. They were very receptive to all the information that were given to them and will be working closely with the basketball federation to continue their training,” said Le Fleur, who also represented Australia in the 1998 Women’s World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

Agape Christian School’s Noel Puno was among the participants in yesterday’s session and he brought with him his students.

“This course will give our students a better understanding of basketball and how the game is officiated. It is very helpful to us because we are active in basketball leagues on Saipan, especially in the school competitions. With our students attending referee and table officials course, they will be able to help us run tournaments in our school,” Puno said.

Le Fleur said putting into practice what the participants will learn from the course is the main purpose of her short visit on Saipan.

“The new referees will need to continue their training while refereeing games.. The only way to get better is to referee games. They will be refereeing junior games and will be assessed and monitored by the NMI basketball federation so they are improving. As they get better they will be moved up into the senior levels,” the FIBA Oceania official said.

Elias Rangamar of Marianas Islands Basketball Federation, which coordinated Le Fleur’s visit on island, said they are looking to forming a pool of junior referees/table officials and coaches and have then help in various leagues on Saipan.

“Most of our veteran referees, coaches, and table officials are now concentrating on their families and other matters, so we really need to train our youth. Once they are done with this introductory course, we will try to help them attend a higher level course so they could get certification and continue to improve,” Rangamar said.

Le Fleur’s Level 1 coaching course will be held today from 8:30am to 11:30am, while on court session of the same topic will take place from 1pm to 3:30pm. Then at 5pm, the Australian will continue the on court referees/table officials’ assessment.