Andrew Smith one of Scotland's high potential officials attended the Haris tournament over the festive period held in Manchester, he gained some excellent experience officiating some very high standard international games. This was fully supported by basketballscotland thanks to FIBA Europe funding. 

Below is a report about Andrew's experience; 

The Haris tournament is run by Manchester Magic in honour of Haris Charalambous, who was a product of their youth system but tragically died during a training session at his NCAA Division 1 school, Toledo. The tournament invites elite U18 teams from across Europe to compete at the Amaechi Basketball Centre. This season this included the England, Scotland and Romanian U18 squads  the German U17s, alongside junior club teams Manchester Magic, Reading Rockets from England and Kortrijk from Belgium. 

I was lucky enough to be invited to referee this prestigious tournament, which was quite an honour. Alongside many of the top referees in England it was an opportunity to further hone my 3-man mechanics outside the comfort zone of Scotland. This also gave me the opportunity to learn from and referee with new referees which is vital in progressing to higher levels. I was also able to use the experience I have gained refereeing in Scotland and BBL to take on more of a leadership role by acting as crew chief in a number of games. The learning process never ends no matter what standard of refereeing you are at, we are all striving to get better and perform at the highest level we can. Opportunities like this one are worth their weight in gold and I hope to be seeing the benefits of this the second half of the season.

basketballscotland would like to thank the organisers of the tournament for allowing Andrew to officiate at this tournament and gain this invaluable experience.