Basketball umpire gets rave review in Cairo
Thato Kala | Friday September 26, 2014 14:03
Okatch was officiating at her first international tournament after recently becoming Botswana’s first basketball ref to get FIBA accreditation.
The tournament in Cairo has been running since last Friday with Okatch handling four matches.
She officiated the Angola versus Mozambique, with her next assignment being a tie between Angola and Ivory Coast. Her final preliminaries game was between Mozambique and Ivory Coast. On Tuesday night she was in charge in the top four tie between Algeria and Mali before doing Angola-Ivory Coast on Wednesday afternoon.
The games come to an end tomorrow.
She is overwhelmed by the rave reviews she has received.
“So far I have gotten good feedback from the referees supervisor, it is quite encouraging. All the commissioners and other officials were surprised to finally see a referee from Botswana,” she told Mmegi Sport from Cairo.
Summing up her experience, the assertive official said: “Well, this is way better than I had ever dreamed it would be. I have experienced almost every emotion possible in the short time that I have been here. Coming into this competition I am the referee with the least experience, the others have years under their belt, ranging from four to 10”.
Okatch said she had initially she had no confidence thinking she would mess, but once in, she settled and felt she faired well.
In fact, when she received news that she would officiate at the tournament was excitement but that immediately changed to fear. “Fear because I have always been told that you are judged according to your first competition.”
In the early stages of the tournament, they started off with the two-man refereeing system, which is currently used in Botswana before switching to use the three-man system.
But Okatch had to keep reminding herself that she was there because someone noticed she was a good referee.
“My confidence keeps building up game by game,” she said.
“Three-man is actually better, but its just the mechanics and rotation of the referees that can get a bit confusing,” she explained.
Okatch noted that the three-man system required more concentration during the game and needed the referee to be in the right position in order to make the correct call.
Okatch made history when she attained her FIBA license in Madagascar in August, hardly 12 months after becoming a zonal referee.
The world basketball governing body, FIBA’s requisite is that one waits for a year after attaining the zonal qualification to try out for the international test, but the assertive official still went ahead with the help of Botswana Basketball Association (BBA).
Last year, BBA sent three officials to sit for the test to become international referees and they all failed, but after 66 laps in eight minutes, a theory test and the practical session Okatch made it this time around.
Her utmost dream in basketball officiating is refereeing at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
She started off as a level three in Namibia before becoming a national referee.
Okatch has also tasted success as a player after winning two successive national titles with Namibia’s Wild Cats in 2002 and 2003.
Last season, Okatch helped Police to a League title, but insists her first love remains refereeing.
Top international basketball official Charles Foster has previously said she has potential to go international as a referee because of her impressive knowledge on the laws of the game.
Some of the high profile competitions she has officiated in include the 2012 FASU Games in Namibia, the 2014 Swaziland International Tournament, this year’s Universities Basketball Championships in South Africa, COSSASA and CUCSA Games.
She is Africa’s number 102 referee and one of the 11 females in the continent.