Meet basketball-mad referee Flynn Parriss

Tauranga's Flynn Parriss, 14, has been refereeing basketball for four years. Photo / George Novak

Many sports are only as good as the volunteers working tirelessly to ensure opportunities for participation.

Among the most important of those are the referees, umpires and other officials without whom competition would come to a standstill.

This Easter weekend Tauranga has played host to the Mel Young Easter Classic junior basketball tournament. With 135 age group basketball teams playing at six different venues, a dedicated team of referees is a must.

One of those referees is 14-year-old Flynn Parriss who says, as a referee, he has the best seat in the house.

"I did it last year as well and I really liked it. I liked meeting some of the new players coming from all around the North Island - it's quite cool to see them all play against each other.

"[This weekend] has been pretty good, there's been some good games and some great players playing. The talent here is pretty darn amazing considering it's just a little bit of the North Island playing."

Flynn says being a referee is a great way to be close to the action but it comes with a lot of responsibility.

"You've got to make the right calls to make the game flow. It can be a lot of pressure, especially if it's a close game and some of the coaches can get a bit rowdy. But that's when you just ask them to be quiet and if they need anything to talk to me.

Basketball referee Flynn Parriss in action during the Mel Young Easter Classic junior basketball tournament. Photo / George Novak

"You have to be able to stick by your calls. If you make a call you might as well go through with it because nine times out of 10 if you see it, you'll know what the call is."

He is in his fourth year of refereeing and the more games he does, the more he loves it.

"Mum saw something in the newspaper and it's been cool to be able to play but then also see the game from a different angle as a ref. Refereeing has taken me a lot of places - I've been to competitions in a lot of different places.

"I still play as well and it's quite cool, you can see different aspects that you wouldn't if you weren't reffing. It's quite good to help with my team - say they get pulled up for a foul, I can help explain it to them, explain why they got that call."

Flynn says there is a team of people at Tauranga Basketball who have supported him throughout his time as a referee.

"They've been there behind me, helping me out and putting my name forward for these competitions which is really nice".

Tauranga Basketball Jo referee trainer Jo Ogle says referees are "immensely important" to the weekend's tournament.

"Without referees, we don't have a game and that's the case in any sport. The fact that they are all young people is great and a lot of them are players as well as referees.

"We've got about 95 referees on this weekend. We've got some from Australia as well and there's lots of knowledge being shared. Refereeing well here leads to invitations to ref at higher level tournaments."