ITF International Umpire Course - report

The ITF International umpire course was held online via zoom by the ITF umpire committee. This course is a qualify course for A and B class umpires. There were over 440 participants from around the world.
There was a large participation from the INTA with the umpire committee and other INTA instructors taking part.
On day one Master Abelardo Benzaquen, chairman of the ITF umpire committee, opened up the proceedings with a message from the President GM Weiler to officially open this course. Master Wallace covered in detail the duties of the ring council on how to open/close and enter/leave the ring. Master Ruben Suarez covered the procedures on how the Electronic scoring system works, the 0.2 deductions and 0.1 deductions on scoring patterns in detail.
GM Lan Ung  and GM Marano from the technical committee were there also to give their input regarding technical questions on the performance of patterns. This area was the most debated regarding the speed patterns are preformed at in a tournament. After a short break we continued with the procedures on sparring with the scoring, warnings and fouls. This was covered by Master Wallace with the aid of videos which had some technical issues. Master Ottesen was, as always, every passionate about centre refereeing and how to control the ring. We had a chance to move about with Master Ottesen practicing the hand signals for both warning and fouls.
Grand master Lan Ung and Master Ottesen were most inspiring with their energy and passion.