The face-to-face elements for our highest group of referees will take place at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 September 2024 and there will be at least one face-to-face conference in each region for referees during September. Online sessions will take place for national table officials, regional table officials and statisticians throughout the month.
The pre-season officiating conferences are set out to provide vital education and training for officials operating in our competitions with key points of emphasis and learnings from the 2023/24 season.
We are pleased to be welcoming people from all elements of the game to support the conference delivery including players and coaches, along with top level officiating instructors.
The agenda for all sessions will be confirmed closer to the time and will posted on this page when available.
Entries are closed for this year's NOC, however a walk-in rate of £180 is available. We will endeavour to provide NOC merchandise and annual conference dinner subject to availability.
The agenda is as follows:
18:00 - Registration
19:00 - Fitness Test
21:00 - Depart Venue
08:00 - Registration
09:00 - Welcome & Introductions
09:15 - 3PO Mechanics - Know your responsibilities by position - Richard Stokes & Iain Macdonald
10:15 - Post Play - Richard Stokes
10:45 - Break
11:05 - Disciplinary/Incident Report Writing - Richard Stokes
11:35 - Screening - Neil Wilkinson
12:35 - Lunch
13:20 - Offensive & Defensive Plays - Matt Newby & Richard Stokes
14:20 - Unsportsmanlike Fouls - Richard Stokes
15:20 - Break
15:40 - Act of Shooting - Kate Unsworth
16:40 - Fitness Test
17:30 - Depart Venue
19:00 - Dinner & Awards
23:00 - Close
09:00 - Communication - Neil Wilkinson
10:00 - New Rules - Neil Wilkinson
11:00 - Break
11:20 - Coaches & Players - Round Table Discussion - Dale Aitcheson & Panelists
12:45 - Closing Remarks
Agenda is subject to change
There are a number of accommodation options around NBPC.
1. Holiday Inn Express Manchester - East - https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/gb/en/manchester/mchea/hoteldetail
2. Premier Inn Manchester - Denton - https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-manchester/manchester/manchester-denton.html
3. Travelodge Manchester Sportcity - https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/285/Manchester-Sportcity-hotel
Other hotel accommodation is available, however these are the most commonly used by officials for events at NBPC.
The national table official and statistician conferences will be held online on Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4 September. You should attend both sessions.
You will receive an email with the meeting link the day before the session.
Table Officials
Session 1 - Tuesday 3 September 19:00-20:00 | New rules
Session 2 - Wednesday 4 September 20:30-21:30 | How to be a leader on the table
Statisticians
Session 1 - Tuesday 3 September 20:30-21:30 | Inputting techniques
Session 2 - Wednesday 4 September 19:00-20:00 | Assists
Face-to-face sessions
Weeknight conferences will run 6-10pm.
Monday 9 September - West Midlands - Bromsgrove School
Tuesday 10 September - South West - Richard Huish College, Taunton
Wednesday 11 September - London (1) - LSBU Sport Active, Elephant and Castle, London
Thursday 12 September - South East - K2 Crawley
Friday 13 September - South - Yateley Manor School
Saturday 14 September - London (2) - Ark Soane Academy, Acton, London, London 10:00-14:00
Sunday 15 September - North West - Archbishop Beck School, Liverpool 09:30-15:30 - SIGN UP HERE (£15)
Monday 16 September - North East - Vertu Motors Arena. Newcastle upon Tyne
Tuesday 17 September - Yorkshire - University of Huddersfield
Thursday 19 September - East Midlands - Broomfield College, Derby
Friday 20 September - East - Long Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge
Monday 23 September - London (3) - Riverside School, Barking
Agenda
18:00 - Welcome and general updates
18:15 - New rules
19:15 - Disciplinary/incident report writing
19:30 - Refereeing Points of Emphasis
20:30 - On court session
21:30 - Fitness test
22:00 - Depart venue
The agenda is subject to change and may vary based on location. London (2) conference agenda will follow the same order but start at 10:00.
Virtual Session
There will also be an online session on Thursday 26 September 20:00-21:00. This is designed for referees who are unable to attend a face-to-face session. You will receive an email with the meeting link the day before the session. It does not count as attendance at a conference for those wishing to referee senior NBL competitions.
The regional table official conferences will be held online. You only need to attend one session.
You will receive an email with the meeting link the day before the session.
Option 1 - Wednesday 18 September 19:00-20:30
Option 2 - Saturday 21 September 10:00-11:30
Option 3 - Tuesday 24 September 20:00-21:30
Agenda
Welcome and general updates - 15 minutes
New rules - 60 minutes
Table official mechanics - 15 minutes
The North West region is hosting a face-to-face table official conference on Sunday 15 September at Archbishop Beck School, Liverpool from 09:30-15:30 - SIGN UP HERE (£15).
NBL referees are expected to run fitness tests at a face-to-face conference. We are not accepting referees running and filming their own fitness tests.
The fitness test is a multi-stage fitness test where you must run 20-metre shuttles at increasing speed following an audio track (which can be found here). If you feel unwell during the fitness test, you must stop. We recommend that you practice the fitness test prior to attending a conference.
Based on your age/gender you are required to achieve this number of laps:
We will use Testportal for this year's officiating test. You will be asked 25 questions from the bank of questions that are available below. The test will be based on OBR v1.2, OBRI v4.1 (not the updated rules published this summer), IOT manual and 2PO/3PO mechanic manuals.
Where not specified in the question, A1 - A5 are the players on the playing court from the offensive team, A6 - A12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the offensive team. B1 - B5 are the players on the playing court from the defensive team, B6 - B12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the defensive team.
The test was active from Monday 19 August to Sunday 1 September 23:59. For those who need to resit, or those who have not yet completed it, the resit window will open on Monday 16 September and close on Sunday 29 September 23:59. The resit link will be made available on this webpage.
You can access the exam by clicking the link below.
Referee Practice Questions
Referee Resit Rules Exam
Group A referees are expected to attend the national referee conference, with Group B & C referees expected to attend a regional referee conference (or national if they so choose) and successfully pass the rules test and fitness test to be eligible for games at their competency level. A resit is available for those who are unsuccessful at the rules test but will receive restricted appointments for the first three weeks of the season.
We encourage all table officials and statisticians who wish to officiate in the NBL to sign up for the national conference and take full advantage of the learning that is available.
Appointments to prestigious games will be prioritised for those who attended the National Conference and passed the rules test.
We will use testportal for this year's rules test. You will be asked 25 questions from the bank of questions that are now available below. The test will be based on OBR v1.2 and OBRI v4.1, TOM v6.0 - not the updated rules published this summer.
Where not specified in the question, A1 - A5 are the players on the playing court from the offensive team, A6 - A12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the offensive team. B1 - B5 are the players on the playing court from the defensive team, B6 - B12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the defensive team.
The test was active from Monday 19 August to Sunday 1 September 23:59. For those who need to resit, or those who have not yet completed it, the resit window will open on Monday 16 September and close on Sunday 29 September 23:59. The resit link will be made available on this webpage.
Table Official Practice Questions
Statistician Practice Questions
Table Official Resit Rules Exam
Statistician Resit Rules Exam
