The approaches taken to developing judo referees will help inform the Australian Sports Commission’s initiatives to establish best practice Officiating and Coaching in sports around Australia. The ASC has created an two new Advisory Groups to chart a course for the future of Australian sport – and Judo’s Deepali Mistry has been appointed to the Officiating Advisory Group.
Deepali chairs Judo Australia’s National Referee Committee, working to ensure that Australia’s judo events are officiated to world-class standards, and that all referees have access to the necessary referee education.
Deepali is one of ten sports leaders from around Australia developing an action plan to prepare Australian sports for the challenge of the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, and beyond.
Deepali joins an cross-disciplinary panel that includes a wide variety of sports leaders. They include Ash Synnott, founder of the Officiating Collective, Delfina Shakespear from Sport Integrity Australia, Nick Hunter from Equestrian Australia, Robert Kerr from the AFL Umpires Association, Peter Wroblewski from Tennis Australia, and Nathan Magill, formerly Head of Referees with Football Australia, recently contracted by the US Soccer Federation in a similar role.
Other members of the working group bring perspectives from outside the sporting sector: Penelope Barr, a transition strategist and author, Pete Ingram, previously of the Queensland Police, and Jacqui Jashari, the executive director of WA’s Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport.
Judo Australia is excited by the role Deepali will have in shaping the profile and future of officiating, and congratulates her on being chosen for this important task.
“It’s a very important job and recognises the huge amount of work and passion Deepali has committed to judo,” said Simon Read, chairman of Judo Australia.
With Referee Committee colleagues Lubo Petr and Srdjan Andjelkovic, Deepali has committed to keeping referees, coaches and judoka well informed on changes to the IJF rules and how our Oceania region will be interpreting them.
In February alone, the Referee Committee delivered an online webinar to more than 100 attendees, then backed this briefing up with on-mat seminars at both the Canberra International Open and the Sydney International Open.
