February and March saw commissaires and referees from all over the country gather at the four annual commissaire and referee conferences held in Manchester, Leicester, Bristol and London. This year saw another record attendance with 240 officials attending across the four days, a growth of 33% on attendance in 2013.
This session focused on how risk needs to be managed appropriately and discussed the current position of British Cycling. It also explored the tools and assets that may be developed in the future including using the member dashboard to allow commissaires to upload forms (such as incident reports, commissaire reports and penalty forms) and submit them to British Cycling. A copy of submitted reports would also be available in the dashboard for future reference.
Managing parents and conflict
Commissaires were given hints and tips on dealing with difficult parents and how to diffuse conflict in this session. It led on from the 2013 conference session on communication and managing conflict. The group discussed a series of scenarios and gave solutions using their experiences from the past. It was an opportunity to ask questions and feedback from the session will be used to inform best practice guidance in the future.
Commissaires moving through the pathway
This session offered commissaires the opportunity to discuss the commissaire pathway from Assistant to UCI Commissaire and the similarities and differences between disciplines. It also explored the effectiveness of the logbook process for Assistant Commissaires and the informal mentoring taking place in regions and disciplines. If you would like to view any of the new discipline logbooks click on the following link:
Discipline specific workshops
BMX
The BMX sessions continue to grow and with three of the four venues again having increased numbers for the 3rd year running the BMX officials really find the interaction with other disciplines in the morning sessions to be very positive and rewarding. The afternoon sessions are typical BMX - relaxed and to some extent informal. With the wide range of experiences and backgrounds of the participants, the planning of a formal session is of no benefit so the sessions are an open forum based around the latest rule changes and current trends in the sports development.
Cyclo-cross and mountain bike
A good turnout in the northern conferences enabled us to split this year’s off road sessions into mountain bike where the focus was on gravity enduros and cyclo-cross which reviewed best practice utilising video footage from previous events. In the southern conferences mountain bike and cyclo-cross were combined, at Bristol the session looked at issues in downhill, cross country and cyclo-cross. The new venue in London saw a session focused on cyclo-cross with representation from three different leagues and issues and situations that had occurred during the past season. The group also debated how commissaires could use best practice to enhance event standards.
Cycle speedway
Cycle Speedway brought all their referees together for a national conference at the Leicester venue to discuss rule changes along with arising issues and developments from last season. Multiple venues for cycle speedway referees will be piloted next year if the interest warrants it.
Road
The road workshop saw commissaires discuss a range of scenarios which were all derived from real-life situations, in races across all levels ranging from local circuit events to national level road races. It provoked lots of discussion and it was very beneficial to have a range of experience in the group.
Track
The track group started the session focussing on bike measurement by using a measuring jig to clarify the changes recently introduced by the UCI to simplify the checks commissaires are required to make. The session then looked at scenarios from events ranging from regional to international level including the use of judge arbiter video footage from recent World Cups and Junior World Championships.
The feedback gathered from this year’s conference attendees will be looked at and used to plan next year’s conferences. Some of the feedback received from the conferences included the following:
“It was great to get together with other commissaires and have fresh input from new people”
“This was my first conference, it was very worthwhile and I loved the free gift!”
“It was great to be able to learn from more experienced commissaires using videos and scenarios in the discipline specific sessions”
“I found the discipline specific sessions very thought provoking, it challenged the knowledge and reinforced understanding”
“I liked that as well as being given information, we were also able to discuss issues”
