International basketball referees camp to be held in Samokov

The 20th edition of Can Do Basketball referees camp will be held in Samokov (Bulgaria) next week. It will be held during the U16 National championship which is going to be played next week as well. The director of the camp Mr. Alan Richardson is choosing Bulgaria for fourth year in a row as in 2010 the host was Samokov, then Varna and 12 months ago Samokov as well.
This year a record total of 71 referees will attend the camp as 12 of them are international referees. There will be representatives of 28 countries - 23 from Europe and 5 from Asia - Japan, India, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In the history of the camp a total number of 145 referees that took part in it then became international referees. This year there are 15 females and the youngest one is from Russia and is just 15-years old.
36 referees will officiate the games from the championship every day and 35 will officiate practice games in "Arena Samokov".  Every day from morning to noon time they will have feedback and lectures about modern officiating.
The instructors will be Valentin Lazarov and Kamen Toshev (Bulgaria), Davorin Nakic (Croatia), Gjorgi Piperkov (Macedonia), Mansour Al Ahmari (Saudi Arabia), Stelios Koukoulekidis (Greece) and Leonid Chudin (Russia). Their guidance to the referees will offer also the director of the camp Alan Richardson and the Sports director of EUROHOLD Balkan League Shay Shtriks.
Can Do Basketball was created to develop and promote the education and training of basketball officials. In 1989 a Churchill Travel Fellowship allowed Alan Richardson to visit the USA for 10 weeks to study the methods of training used in high schools (NFHS), colleges/universities (NCAA) and the professionals (NBA).Since that time, through various mediums, the education and training of referees and coaches in joint settings has been widely promoted and well received throughout Europe and the basketball world. Using a network of global experts and exchanging ideas/materials it has been possible to offer training and support to many levels of officials ranging from newly qualified to international.   Richardson is currently a Consultant for FIBA Europe Referee Department,FIBA Europe Instructor and Coordinator of the Potential Referee Coaching Group.