Prague hosted the summit of marshals on May 9-11. The organizers made it as useful and interesting as possible. Later on, all the participants were leaving the event full of new experiences and knowledge, and some lucky ones even having international certificates of HMB marshals.

Let’s talk about that in detail.

Besides well-known and experienced members of the HMB movement, the Czech Republic’s capital was attended by new people who had joined the movement not long ago. In total, the summit gathered about 30 men. Almost half of them (i.e. 13 persons) applied for the title of referee of the HMB World Championship “Battle of the Nations”-2014.

The summit consisted of three stages. It began with a survey of the Marshal Committee.

Then, there was the “Marshal School”, where the participants, headed by Alexander Davydov (Head of the Marshal Committee for the HMB World Championship “Battle of the Nations”-2014), studied and discussed the rules (every provision) carefully.

They also discussed the format of the marshals’ work at “Battle of the Nations”-2014, number of referees for each category, positions of the marshals during the battles, etc. The organizers focused on the point that marshal is a person without bias, affection and nationality, and nothing should affect decisions of the Championship Marshal.

The main stage was the exam. According to the participants, the test was not difficult, but artfully composed. Alexander Davydov stressed the point that marshal’s work is intricate, he always gets in difficult situations and he has to make quick and right decisions. Similarly, such was the the test – simple, but confusing.

The test was passed only by 4 of the 13 participants who then were accredited and got certificates of international HMB marshals, namely Sebastian Vizante (Romania), Mikhail Tereshchenko (Moldova), Daniel Dufek and Tomas Gajdosik (both from the Czech Republic).

Of course, many were upset, but they realized they needed to raise their level. Almost every participant asked about the next summit.

According to the organizers, the level of referee training for the Championship of “Battle of the Nations” level has to be very high, because the marshal’s work is the most difficult and thankless, but the most necessary.

During the meeting in Prague, the participants have agreed on the point that the “Marshal School“ and raising the level of their skills are very important points for the development of the HMB movement at the local, national and international level.

After the eventful day, having dinner in a warm and not highly formal atmosphere, the participants of the Prague Summit discussed with Carolina Sacchetti, a representative of the Authenticity Committee, a format of authenticity experts’ work at the upcoming “Battle of the Nations”, achievements of the Italians at the national level, as well as problems and prospects of the HMBIA Authenticity Committee. Also, they discussed work of the Tournament Committee at the HMB World Championship “Battle of the Nations”-2014.

The next day was no less interesting, as there was a HMB training seminar given by the current world champions! Alexander Nikitin and Vitaly Gryzlov (“Bear Span” club, team Russia-1 of 2013) shared their experience with the captains and coaches of the national teams and clubs, as well as individual fighters.

Christina Korneva
HMBIA News