National Officials Certification Program

The Manitoba Association of Basketball Officials has recently adopted our national body’s certification program – the CABO National Officials Certification Program.  As a result of the new national certification program, there are some obvious areas of overlap between the new national program and what each individual province’s association was doing for certification and clinic curriculum.  Therefore, the MABO Level Certification Program will be replaced by the CABO National Officials Certification Program, effective immediately. 


The National Officials Certification Program is a cooperative effort between Canada Basketball and the Canadian Association of Basketball Officials.  In 2007 a steering committee was organized to put together the framework and curriculum for this program.  The purpose is to assist in the education and development of officials.  The program consists of 5 levels, 3 of which are administered by the Provincial Association, 1 by CBOC and 1 by FIBA.
  • Rule Knowledge
  • Floor Mechanics   
  • Game Management
  • Court Presence
Please refer to Appendix A for additional program information and structure.  You can also check out the MABO website for complete program information.

Since there was no longer a need for a specific “MABO Level” for our officials, MABO was tasked with assigning new CBOC Levels to all of our officials.  We completed this process over the summer and have now assigned a new “CBOCLevel” to all of our officials.  You will find your new CBOC Level on your profile page of the MABO website.  This CBOC Level is based on your experience and accomplishments to date, as well as the criteria set out by the new CBOC National Officials Certification Program.  As a result, there is no longer a MABO Level assigned to your name.

If you have not yet met the criteria for a certified CBOC Level 1 official, you will be classified as “Probationary” until you can complete the certification requirements.

We are excited to finally have a true National Certification Program for basketball officials and we trust that this will help everyone across the country in terms of how we teach, train, evaluate, and certify our officials.  Have a great season!

APPENDIX A

General Information

Courses: There are 5 courses, Level 1 to Level 5
  1. Levels 1, 2 and 3 consists of three sections: Rule Knowledge, Officiating Mechanics, On-court Assessment
  2. On successful completion of all three components at each level, a candidate will be recognized as a certified  Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 Basketball Official
  3. Level 4 consists of On-court Assessments at a National Tournament or by a National Observer
  4. Level 5 consists of FIBA international certification
Course Design
  • Levels 1 to 4 have been designed and developed by Canada Basketball and the Canadian Association of Basketball Officials. 
  • Level 5 is the FIBA international certification course.
  • At each successive level, officials are expected to learn and demonstrate additional skills and a higher level of competency.
Course Provider
  • The courses for levels 1 to 3 shall be provided by local referee organizations within each province, with the approval and support of the provincial officiating associations.
  • The course for level 4 shall be provided by CBOC national evaluators.
  • The course for level 5 shall be provided by FIBA international instructors. 
Course Administration

The instructor shall be a qualified educator/evaluator approved by the appropriate association or authority.

Certification

The candidate must successfully achieve the learning outcomes of each module as assessed by the CBOC national exam and on-court observation according to the standard required at each level.

Game Requirements
  • The minimum requirement for assessment for each candidate is one (1) game observed by one (1) evaluator for Level 1.
  • The minimum requirement for assessment for each candidate is two (2) games observed by one (1) evaluator for Level 2.
  • The minimum requirement for assessment for each candidate is two (2) games observed by two (2) evaluators for Level 3.
  • The minimum requirement for assessment for each candidate is two (2) games observed by two (2) National evaluators at one of the following National tournaments for Level 4:
  • CIS Men, CIS Women, CCAA Men, U17 Men or U17 Women, or at any alternative competition as approved by the CBOC Education Officer.

NOCP Details
  1. NOCP Introduction
  2. NOCP Level 1 Course Description
  3. NOCP Level 2 Course Description
  4. NOCP Level 3 Course Description
  5. NOCP Level 4 Course Description
  6. NOCP Assessment Instructions
  7. MABO Certification Level 1 Evaluation Form
  8. MABO Certification Level 2 Evaluation Form
  9. MABO Certification Level 3 Evaluation Form
  10. MABO Evaluation Form (Section 1 - Rules Knowledge)