FIBA female official an inspiration
FOSHAN – Coming from humble roots, the only female technical delegate in the ongoing FIBA World Cup is an inspiration to those facing adversity in striving to achieve their goals in life. Fatima Aparecida da Silva of Brazil is one of eight technical delegates assigned by FIBA to supervise game operations and make sure everything is in order.
Da Silva, 52, never knew her father. She was raised by a single mother Maria Apparecida who worked as a cook for a rich family in Sao Paulo. Her mother had dreams of Da Silva becoming a successful professional. She didn’t disappoint. Da Silva earned a physical education degree then went to Trevisan Escola de Negocios for a Master’s diploma in marketing and sports management. Today, Da Silva works as a public school teacher and is a respected basketball official. She has lived alone since her mother passed away in 2002.
Basketball was a sport Da Silva loved as a little girl. She was in school and club teams from 12 to 19 but a knee injury kept her from pursuing a playing career. Instead, her eyes were opened to becoming a referee. She took up a referees’ course in 1986 and the next year, began officiating on the court.
Da Silva was eventually recognized as one of Brazil’s top female referees, leading to assignments at the 2008 Olympics and four FIBA World Cups in the women’s division. When she got the job to travel to Foshan for this year’s World Cup as a technical delegate, Da Silva said she couldn’t believe it at first.
“It’s a big honor,” she said. “I’ve done work as a commissioner for FIBA in the past but this is the first time I’ve been designated a technical delegate for the World Cup. I’m excited for my country. In this World Cup, the technical delegate is also the commissioner. A technical delegate looks after the documentation, technical facilities and court arrangements while a commissioner supervises the referees and table officials for every game. In my situation now, I’m more of a commissioner than a technical delegate but the responsibilities are on the shoulders of just one person so it’s a bigger challenge.”
One technical delegate was deployed to each of the eight Chinese cities that hosted the first and second rounds of action. Under every technical delegate were seven referees. FIBA assigned 56 referees from 39 countries to this year’s World Cup. Aside from Da Silva, the other technical delegates are Fernando Garzon of Spain, Mike Homsy of Canada, Norman Isaac of India, Zulfikar Karim of Tanzania, Andreas Papadopoulos of Greece, Charles Saunders of South Africa and Jiang An Zhou of China.
Da Silva said although Brazil is known as football-crazy, there are pockets in the country where basketball is more popular like Bauru, Frenca and Mogi das Cruzes. “Over the last few years, FIBA has developed basketball all over the world and in Brazil, more and more kids are playing it because of the influence of our national team, the stars in our league and our NBA players,” she said. “Football, of course, is still Brazil’s No. 1 sport but basketball and volleyball are next in popularity. The game has improved everywhere from coaches to players. All over the world, FIBA is opening doors for the best players to showcase their skills.”
In Brazil, Da Silva said basketball has a rich history. “My all-time favorite male player is Wlamir Marques and my alltime favorite female player is Paula Goncalves da Silva,” she said. “But there are many more stars who’ve made an impact in Brazilian basketball like Marcos Leite, Leandro Barbosa, Oscar Schmidt, Tiago Splitter, Nene, the De Souza brothers, Anderson Varejao, Hortencia Marcari and Amaury Pasos. I was fortunate to referee games where some of our best female players like Hortencia and Paula played. I remember refereeing a game where Barbosa was 11 or 12 years old.”
Da Silva said working in this year’s World Cup is the highlight of her basketball career. “This is the biggest World Cup ever with 32 teams, a new system and lots of innovations to make the game more exciting,” she said. “I love basketball and it’s a dream come true for me to be involved at this time when the game is evolving with FIBA’s vision to grow it globally.”