Several Australian technical officials have been honoured with selections by FIBA to attend the 2016 Olympic Games, the final Olympic qualification in Manila and the U17 World Championships in Zaragoza, Spain.
Sarah Carey and James Boyer have been chosen to referee the Under-17 World Championships from June 22-July 3 this year, Michael Aylen will officiate the FIBA Men’s qualification tournament in July while Vaughan Mayberry, Scott Beker and Bill Mildenhall will attend the 2016 Rio Olympics in August.
“This is a fantastic achievement by these referees and technical officials and reflects tremendous recognition of the work that our Australian officials are doing,” said Basketball Australia High Performance General Manager, Jan Stirling.
“Every official has progressed through the pathway of WNBL and/or NBL and this international recognition should provide inspiration to the next generation of referees and technical officials.”
Carey earned her FIBA license in 2014 after umpiring 41 WNBL games from 2012-13. Her international experience includes the World University Games in Korea last year.
Boyer adjudicated the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-20 Men’s Championship in LIgnano, Italy and also has experience at WNBL level.
Aylen will referee the FIBA Men’s qualification tournament in Manila where six countries (including New Zealand) will vie for one spot to the 2016 Olympics.
A veteran of over 500 NBL games, Aylen also officiated the 2006 and 2010 World Championships while attending three Olympic campaigns in 2004, 2008 and 2012. At the 2012 London Olympics, Aylen refereed the gold medal game between the USA and Spain.
Once the Rio Olympics begin in August this year, Vaughan Mayberry and Scott Beker will represent Australia as referees while Bill Mildenhall will be a technical official.
Mayberry most recently refereed at the 2012 Olympics while his first FIBA appointment was at the 2001 World Under-19 Women’s Championship where he officiated the final.
He has also attended the 2002 and 2006 FIBA World Championships, the 2006 and 2010 Women’s World Championships and the 2014 Men’s World Championships while adjudicating the NBL through the 2015/16 season.
Beker has been an NBL referee for 15 years, refereeing 228 games while also officiating the WNBL. He has been a FIBA referee since 2005, umpiring the 2007 Under-19 Women’s World Championships, the 2008 William Jones tournament in Taipei, the 2009 Under-19 World Men’s Championship in Auckland which included the gold medal game as well as the World University Games in China.
A technical official, Mildenhall’s impressive international refereeing experience spanned 1987-2005 while he has been in a supervisory and refereeing coaching role since 2006.
He joined the FIBA Technical Commission in 2010 and was a recipient of the Julius Patching Award, recognising his contribution to the Olympic sporting community.
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.