Kent Marshall recently attended the 2018-2019 IIHF Regional Officiating Seminar in Kuala Lumpur, funded by the IIHF and NZIHF, and compiled the below report on his experience.

Day One:

The first morning consisted of introductions and meeting all of the 30 attendees. We were also given a rule book and a brand new Warrior helmet each, which was supplied as part of Warrior’s sponsorship. This was followed by an on ice session assessing our skills.

Day Two:

Day 2 featured a classroom session for most of the day and group activities which were fun, and I learnt a lot. At night we had a more intense on ice session practicing drills and tests we would need for refereeing.

Day Three:

Another classroom session which focussed on a combination of what is expected from referees both on ice and off ice – I was even lucky enough to receive an officials handbook. The on ice session later that night was filmed and was a little harder than the previous sessions, and focussed on key skills.

Day Four:

This was the final day of the camp and the first day of the CCOA tournament. A meeting in the morning was followed by watching 2 games and reviewing what we observed in the games. The second game was awesome to watch with a professional referee from Switzerland.

Day Five:

Day five was a travel day, departing Malaysia and returning home to Dunedin. In conclusion this trip was one of the best experiences of my life, having been the first time I travelled. I made lots of good friends and had a great time, but also learnt and improved my refereeing skills and made great connections with people who can help me in my IIHF progression.

NZIHF President, Andy Mills, added:

“NZIHF officials are our forgotten heroes and are such an important part of the modern game of ice hockey. We spend a huge amount of time and investment developing players, and it should be no different with officials.

The NZIHF has assisted two official’s at the Malaysian IIHF camp, one official who attended training in Toronto and two who will be attending the IIHF Worlds
in Europe in 2019.

Growth, development and retention are key objectives for the NZIHF; officials
have an amazing pathway to reach the world stage and we want to do everything
we can to get them there and improve our sport in doing so. “