Two of the most experienced squash referees in Barbados, Craig Archer and Orson Simpson, have been invited to officiate in the Cayman Squash Open from May 5 ? 10, 2009 at the South Sound Squash Club, in George Town, Grand Cayman. These two referees will be joined by Karen Anderson from Jamaica and Alwyn Callender of Guyana to form the Referees? panel for the tournament.
All four of them have been certified through the Caribbean Officiating Program for Squash (COPS), which has been conducted over the past four years in the Caribbean with technical assistance provided by Squash Canada. The four are all at the B-1 level which is the highest level attained thus far by any of the 52 referees from six Caribbean countries certified under COPS.
Messrs. Archer and Simpson have also been certified as Referee Assessors (Examiners) by Squash Canada and can certify referees in the Caribbean up to the B level. At the moment they are the only two referees in the Caribbean to have attained this status. Their trip to Grand Cayman is being partially funded by the Barbados Olympic Association Inc. through its Affiliate Travel Grant facility.
Although Mr. Archer will be making his refereeing debut at the world level, the three other referees all have previous international experience. Ms. Anderson has officiated at a previous WoMen’s International Squash Players’ Association (WISPA) tournament two years ago; Mr. Callender has officiated at several PSA events held in the USA, while Mr. Simpson has officiated at the highest level ? the World Squash Federation’s (WSF) World Team Championships that were held in Chennai, India in December 2007. Mr. Archer has been appointed Tournament Referee for the Cayman Squash Open and will therefore be responsible for the allocation of match officials at this week long squash event.
These four referees are about to make history since no other tournament in the Caribbean has been officiated by a panel of Certified Referees from the region. In addition, the woMen’s competition which is an official WISPA event, is one of the richest tournaments on the woMen’s circuit this year and has attracted seven (7) of the top ten (10) ladies in the world, including World #1 Nicol David of Malaysia.
All four officials are well known and are highly respected within the Caribbean region and have been endorsed by the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) which administers the COPS program. They are expected to perform creditably and be good ambassadors for the COPS program which will again be conducted by CASA, with assistance from Squash Canada, during this year?s Senior Caribbean Squash Championships in Trinidad from August 13-23, 2009.
Mr. Dan Kneipp, the Tournament Director of the 2009 Cayman Squash Open, is excited at the hosting of this prestigious tournament and should be complimented for having the foresight and confidence to expose outstanding Caribbean officials to this level of competition. The exposure can only redound to the benefit of squash in this region.
[In the photo above: Simpson (L) and Archer (R) looked pleased as the BOA Secretary General, Erskine Simmons, holds up one of the shirts that will be worn by the CASA-certified referees. Squash Canada?s Graham Waters (the Director of the WSF Rules & Referees Committee) [2nd from right) also watches with interest].
