Referees & Officials: The Heroes in Blue of HaBaWaBa

They are the only ones who are never forgiven for a mistake, yet also those without whom HaBaWaBa — and indeed, world waterpolo — could not move forward. We are talking about the referees and jury officials, who once again played their part excellently at the Festival, allowing around 1,500 children coming from 4 continents to take center stage in the largest and most colorful kids waterpolo event in the world.

“Those referees soaked up everything like sponges, improving day after day”, comments Dante Saeli, former international referee and current board member of Waterpolo Development who heads the HaBa Referee project, with the assistance of Michele Ingannamorte. “Those who were at their second Festival confirmed their growth - Saeli continues . but even those who have just started refereeing did incredibly well, like Emanuele D’Onofrio, who refereed the U13 mixed teams final. The future belongs to them. I am also referring to the non-Italian referees, who showed tremendous quality”.

Among the international referees was Egyptian Andrew Khela, an international official who refereed the U11 final, and Alexandra Kiss, former international for Hungary who has embarked on a career as a referee. “The real problem is that the number of referees and especially jury officials in Italy is constantly shrinking... And I’m not talking about HaBaWaBa, but the movement in general. Returning to the Festival, HaBaWaBa remains a great school for referees”. To all the members of the refereeing team, match officials, and jury members, goes the deepest gratitude from Waterpolo Development.   Refees and jury officials of HaBaWaBa International Festival: Sohaib “Zaza” Albide, Gian Maria Angioi, Francesca Bolis, Valeria Canella, Paola Carmignola, Mattia Cavallaro, Perla Cidronelli, Roberta Cinà, Giuseppe Colangelo, Anna Consolo, Valentina Conta, Manuele D'Onofrio, Livio Dell'Aguzzo, Letizia Di Lillo, Mirko Facci, Simone Fatone, Fabio Favoino, Alessandro Fichera, Beatrice Gattafoni, Chiara Grando, Lucia Giada Gravino, Antonella Iannelli, Riccardo Izzo, Bohdan Konorenko, Giorgia Leo, Edoardo Locatelli, Giulia Morlupi, Francesco Pavone, Veronica Pavone, Irene Pecoraro, Juan Pablo Perissutti, Federica Rametta, Serena Rania, Filippo Ricciardi, Simone Romano, Carlotta Saeli, Eleonora Saeli, Federico Teti, Luca Tosi, Giorgia Trovato, Vincenzo Vagliano, Marina Valdettaro, Monica Valdettaro, Alessandro Venerio (Ita), Gabriella Varkonyi, Alexandra Kiss, Szombor Dobay, Armin Bodocsi (Hun),  Andrew Khela (Egy). Haba Referee Director: Dante Saeli; assitant: Michele Ingannamorte.

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