At just 21 years of age, Christian Wilmore is already the most experienced basketball referee in the country.
The former St. Augustine’s College student, who began training to be a referee at the age of 14, has had the privilege of calling two International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Championship tournaments in the past three years and was also the chief official at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation’s (CBC) annual championships for women this summer.
Wilmore recently returned to the island and is currently serving as a secretary for the New Providence Association Certified Basketball Officials (NPACBO) and will be working with some of the local referees during this New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA) season. He said he’s looking to give back to the game of basketball in The Bahamas by sharing what he’s learned in his time with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) with the other NPACBO referees.
“I’ve been blessed to referee seven international tournaments in the last three years. One thing I always say is that officiating is never about age but strictly about performance, and being one of the younger referees hasn’t always been easy, because for some reason people link youth to inability,” he said. “On the international scene I’ve been accepted, and of course there was some push back, but after seeing me perform they accepted me.
“This season I look forward to working with my colleagues and those that I began officiating with and helping them to continue to improve. As the league improves, the officials also have to develop their skills, so this year we will be looking to call some clean games and also learn from the mistakes that we do make because of course there will be some.”
Wilmore is currently one of the FIBA referees being considered to call the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“Given my age and my experience, I would say it looks good, but I still don’t know how probable it is. Although I’ve done two world championships in three years, you still never know with these things,” Wilmore said. “I’m confident in my accomplishments up to this point, and if I’m not selected for the 2016 Olympics, then for sure I know that I could get on in 2020.”
Although his reputation as a professional referee is consistently growing, Wilmore said he’s still focused on his ultimate goal of being a medical doctor.
“It’s difficult; there’s no other way to describe balancing school and work,” he said. “I was balancing both since high school while I was preparing to take BGCSEs. Although the road has been tough, I feel that it has made me more of a man. I’m a lot more mature than a lot of my peers, because I always had to find a balance between school and profession. My thing is, if you want it bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen. I made a lot of big steps in just a few short years and moving forward I expect it to be more of the same.”
Although an official date has not been set as yet for the start of the 2015-16 NPBA season, NPBA executives confirm that it will kick off in early October.
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