Elite women's refs praised

On the seated row, Touati (2R), Denoncourt (3R) and Hunt (2L) with their course partiicipants.

Kuala Lumpur: The instructors at the AFC Elite Women’s Referees' Course going on here from February 9 to 13, 2011, are impressed with the level of confidence, courage and leadership their course participants have displayed during the course.

They said these characteristics are very important and a must in order for one to become a good and effective referee especially in times of particularly challenging matches.

The course is attended by 20 top Asian women’s referees and is held as one of the programmes in the second part of the AFC Elite Education Seminar 2011 carried out from February 9 to 23, the largest football educational fair in the continent.

Instructor from Canada Sonia Denoncourt praised her participants: “The referees have displayed strong courage and leadership traits by coming clean before their fellow course participants with the mistakes they have committed in the past. Admitting our mistakes is the first humble step towards learning and growing.”

Sandra Hunt, an instructor from the USA, said: “It’s OK to make mistakes as long as the participants learn from the mistakes and never repeat them. It’s oftentimes through mistakes that we have the chance to make self analysis.

“Sometimes, the best teacher is the tough match where you made mistakes,” she said.

Kader Touati, fitness instructor from Tahiti, also commended the participants for their selfless and open accounts of their experiences, saying: “The participants’ accounts of their mistakes will be great learning opportunities for their colleagues.”

One of the modules in the course involves the participants sharing their good and bad experiences during the matches they officiated in 2010.

http://www.the-afc.com/