Sunday 1 October 2023

The last dance

published on Saturday 15 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Survival Camp 2023

Day 5 by Valentin Kutnar

Last day is here! With our eyes barely open, we walk to the last speed workout. Legs are heavy and the foam roaling fells like torture. Some sprints later we can find some relief at the breakfast table before continuing the day in the lecture room with the clips from yesterday. We had some interesting 50/50 situation with animated debates and good laughts. Then Bence and Maksym did their presentation about “defending off ball” with loads of clips. “Referee the action, not the reaction”.

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REST DAY

published on Thursday 13 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Survival Camp 2023

Day 3 by Alexandre Tornay

Today it’s REST DAY!! But wait! Let me explain to you what a rest day in survival camp is. 

7:30 Speed practice, what a good start! We worked on triple extension to make the first step of our run as fast as possible. That means strengthening the soles of the feet, a rather unusual practice. Then like every day, a great breakfast was waiting for us. After one of our breaks, let’s go back to the gym!! It’s time for 3PO drills. In fact, we need to practice our mechanics on the court without any player, adding our voice for the best synchronization and memorizing each step of the rotation. After this no break allowed, we passed from the gym to the fitness. After Legs the first day and upper body yesterday, it’s time for Strongman training with circuit drills. Honestly, we all discovered our limits, now we understand the name of the “Survival camp”. Let me remind you that is called “rest day”. 

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Hard work continues

published on Wednesday 12 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Survival Camp 2023

Day 2 by Bence Szilvagyi

Our second day started early with a high-intensity speed work session. It was great to have specifically designed drills for us referees. After a short break, we dove right back into our day with some signal training. Everyone enjoyed this session and took some time to reflect on how they could improve themselves. After practicing, we followed it up with a theory session where we discussed cooperation and post-play. We talked about how to effectively exchange information during the game with the crew, as well as with players and coaches too.

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We survived the first day

published on Tuesday 11 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Survival Camp 2023
First day by Paulina Chryc

We survived the first day of the Survival Camp. The first tricky thing was to arrive at Jezierzyce. Everyone had a long journey, but it only shows how much we all want to be here. We didn’t know each other, but only after a moment we all started feeling like we know each other very well. Connects us love to basketball and passion to refereeing. We started the day with practicing 3PO mechanics. After that we had our first gym session. It was tough, but we made it and deserved to have lunch. The break wasn’t long. We met again to have a lecture, analyze the clips together and make ourselves ready for the first games. Most of us didn’t referee much after the season finished, enjoying the summer break, and it was a good moment to start putting ourselves back on track. Does it sound like a lot has been done that day? Oh… the day is not over yet 😉 We had a dinner which was so delicious. I’m not sure if the food was so great or we just were so super hungry because of having a lot of exercise. After that we met together in our crews and watched the records from our games and cut the clips which we all analyzed together. At midnight we could say that the day is finally over and we can enjoy a good sleep… until the wake up call at 7am the next day.

Good night 😉

From the far west of Europe please welcome Paulo again at referee.pl

published on Sunday 9 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Campers 2023, Survival Camp 2023

Hey everyone!

My name is Paulo Martins and I´m from Portugal!

I´m 31 years old, I officiate since 2009 and in the past I have attended 4 Kuba referee camps and its good to be back after a long break. This season I officiated women first divison and men second division. With this camp I look forward to learn new things (ex: about 3PO) and start to get in shape for the next season. Besides officiating games, I also like to practice combat sports, go to the cinema and theater´s and spending time with my dogs. Take care, safe trip´s/flights for everyone and see you soon!

Paulo Rocha Martins

Romeo & Julia … uppsss … Julia & Marcin are with us!

published on Sunday 9 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Campers 2023, Survival Camp 2023

My name is Julia Angela Karamovic

I am a 22-year-old sports-involved girl from a small city in Sweden called Borås, but with parents from the Balkans. I had my first referee clinic in May 2016, where I also refereed my first basketball tournament (Basketball Festivalen). Before I developed a passion for basketball, I was a competitive swimmer. However, I substituted the long hours of swimming in the pool for analyzing and enjoying the game of basketball instead. In High School, I finally pursued my passion for becoming a professional referee, and I haven’t looked back. The season 2022-23 was my first season as a second-league women’s and third-league men’s referee in Sweden. This summer was also my first time going to Australia, where I visited my sister playing and had the chance to watch and analyze their way of reffing.

My name is Marcin Linder. 

I am a 35-year-old Pole, living in Warsaw sinceI returned to Poland 2017. Here I am a referee in the Mazovia district officiation regularly the second female and third male leagues and recently quarter-finals of the Polish championship U17, U13. I have two passions, my work and basketball officiating, and I definitely prefer Euroleague over NAB:)

M&M, please welcome at Survival Camp for first time Maciej and Maksym

published on Saturday 8 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Campers 2023, Survival Camp 2023

Maksym Gerszkow

1. Describe yourself in 30 words.

My name is Maksym, but most of my friends call me Gery. I live in Szczecin, Poland. I am 20 years old and I finished school one year ago. In October I will start studying.

2. What is your referee story?

In primary school my PE teacher, now known as a FIBA referee, encouraged me to start officiating. I have started officiating in October 2021. I was playing basketball for 8 years. Right now, I am finishing my second season as a referee. Officiating became my passion for sure.

3. What is your hidden talent?

Im am not sure if I have any hidden talent, but if I have to pick one thing that I am doing very well, it is dancing. I am an extrovert, so dancing with others is natural for me:)

4. What is one “fun fact” about You?

In high school me and my teammates (we attended the same class) cut our hair bald on our lunch break. One mate didn’t manage to get his haircut and went to class with half a bald head. I was our barber:)

5. What is your favourite TV show?

My favourite TV show is “Peaky Blinders”. Once when I started watching this series, I could not step away from TV for 3 days.

Maciej Inerowicz

1. Describe yourself in 30 words.

I’m 22 and have smile on my face for the most of the time. I study psychology at UAM university in Poznań. Open-minded with lots of energy.

2. What is your referee story?

I was pushed towards refereeing by my middle school coach. Back then I wasn’t fit much, so I was compensating my lacks in perimeter defense by knowing how to take a charge. I referee since 2019/20 season, from 2022/23 season I’m Polish Basketball Association referee. In officiating I value the ability to learn many different skills and the opportunity to meet and get to know a lot of interesting people. And the most important- joy!

3. What is your hidden talent?

Karaoke- especially when I’m alone driving.

4. What is one “fun fact” about You?

I had an episode as a bass player in a punk rock band during my high school era.

5. What is your favourite TV show?

“The Office”

British referees joining Survival Camp 2023

published on Friday 7 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Campers 2023, Survival Camp 2023

Bence Szilvagyi

Hi I’m Bence! I’m from Budapest, Hungary but I currently living in Brighton in the UK where I moved with my family in 2016. My basketball gurney began with friends playing basketball at the park. I fell in love with the sport immediately and now I couldn’t imagine my life without it. I always found interesting how referees work but also my former coach was a referee. So I guess it was bound to happen. I picked up the whistle and became a referee in 2017. Up until the 2021-22 season I was only refereeing junior games but in the last two season I’ve stepped up to the Men’s Division 1 league. I will be starting my studies at a university to become an engineer. Along side I have a part time job as a bartender. Most of the time I have off basketball I try to spend it with family and friends. One massive reason I like this job is because I realised how many friends you really gain from it.

Paulina Chyrc

Hi, my name is Paulina 🙂 I come from Wrocław, from Poland, but I was also living in China, and from almost 6 years I’ve been living in London in the UK. My adventure with basketball started when I was 9 years old, I started playing at that time. After I stopped playing I became a table official and from 7 years I’ve been a referee.Currently I referee up to Division 1 Men and WBBL (the top national female league) games. The most funny story I’ve had as a referee is falling down on the floor with a player who jumped at me trying to rescue the ball. Fortunately he was the smallest player on the whole court, other way I’d become a blot. On the same game, which was a crowded Division 1 Men game, I got a birthday wishes through the speaker from the commentator. Other than spending my time on basketball I work as a landscape architect creating exciting projects. I also love travelling and trying new things, new sports. Now I’m looking forward to meet you on the camp :))

SWISS CREW IS BACK!

published on Thursday 6 July 2023
Camp news 2023, Campers 2023, Survival Camp 2023

Hey! We are the Swiss crew!

The first time we heard from each other was already six years ago when I move to Fribourg, his city, Despite officiating in the same area we had two wait 3 more years to officiate together and finally get to know each other. We bond quite quickly because we realized we have the same interest in spending hours watching clips and working on officiating. “Did you hear about the Crown ref podcast?” or “Hey did you hear about red flags ?” that was the start of a friendship. And in 2021 we went to the survival camp for the first time and that’s when a real friendship started. We got to know more than the referees.

Living in Fribourg, Valentin Kutnar is crazy about sports. Fitness, swimming, Yoga … Taking care of his body is driving a big part of his life. That got even to his job, currently studying Osteopathy. Someone that cares for other people, he will always be there to help you.

Living in Basel, Alexandre Tornay is passionate about art alongside sport. Between two running sessions, he let his mind get free to creativity. That is no surprise that his daily life is driven by architecture. Very positive mindset he’s never let your negativity get you.

We are both motivated in improving officiating, currently, in the first division of women and second division of men in Switzerland we will never stop improving ourselves. After a few camps like Survival Camp or Scania that we already did together we are looking forward to working hard with the new edition of Survival Camp!!

Have a great Day!