The Referee Qualification Test Sunday
This Sunday we will have the Referee Qualification Test here in S£o Paulo. I have reviewed and updated the translated version of the latest IPF Rulebook, so I should be ok. I don’t feel ok, however. It has been years since I am not in the “student side of a test and, honestly, I am not sure what to really give the proper attention concerning the many details specified in the rules. Yesterday, for example, we were measuring our platform. We were in doubt how to fit in into the space available for the next meet. Gilson then asked me: “what is the smallest and largest allowed area for a platform? I had no idea: “All lifts shall be carried out on a platform measuring between 2.5 m x 2.5 m minimum and 4.0 m x 4.0 m maximum, says the rulebook, which I had translated days before. I had given this zero attention at the time. Oh, boy:
Practical implications have already made their way into my training. The requirement for feet, buttocks and head placement while executing the Bench Press, for example, have made me produce a small platform for my feet. Otherwise, they won’t be flat on the floor or my ass will raise above the bench. I have many disagreement with the new (and some of the old) rules. I believe the new requirement for the command “press when the bar is motionless on the lifter’s chest (on the Bench Press) is anti-physiological and will allow a lot of manipulating … political, personal and otherwise unsportsly attitudes. First, the “mental count of two seconds for the chief referee is at least ridiculously subjective. Second, the lifter may not necessarily hear the command. Anyone who has been to a very disputed round knows how loud the cries around the lifter are. Actually, quite funny if you pay attention: some people are yelling “go, go, go!, others “easy, calm down!, other “focus!, others “confirm! Confirm! Stop the ****ing bar! and finally others “c’mon, explode, lift the ****ing bar!. If you really try to obey them all, it is pretty schizophrenic.
Anyhow, I gotta study.
