The second clinic for FIBA Europe Referee Instructors and Potential Referees is nearing its conclusion.

A total of 24 instructors, 28 European referees and one Asian referee attended this week, representing 34 countries.

		A total of 34 countries are being represented at the FIBA Europe Referees Clinic In Gran Canaria.

Repeating the format from week one, all referees were once again put through their paces both on and off the court.

Alejandro Vaquera, who has worked with many of the Spanish national teams, was present to work with the referees on their physical conditioning and preparation.

A number of the referees participated in a demonstration of an exercise designed to prepare players and improve their rate of recovery.

"Although in general terms most referees are in a good physical condition, few of them train specifically according to the job the must do on the floor,” said FIBA Europe Competitions Administrator Richard Stokes.

“This is mostly because we have never offered any guidance until now. It is already a proven fact that the referees’ physical condition can have a direct impact on their mental concentration, especially in the closing stages of a game.

“When referees are working two, three or four games a week, their ability to train and recover correctly will also have an impact on their performance over those games.

“We need to offer our officials some specific advice and guidance in this area if we are to continually improve the standard of officiating in Europe.

“We hope that Alejandro will continue to work with us to educate and advise our officials.”

Vaquera, who will travel to Greece with the Spanish U18 team this summer commented, "Overall the referees are in good shape but they can always improve.”

“And in doing so they will improve their performance on the court. There are other ways to train other than to simply 'run'. The training must be adapted to their specific activity and that is what we have used as an exercise here that is also used for the players. In a sense, the referees need to 'compete' with the other athletes on the floor.”