13 Feb 10:56

Umpires Course

The final umpiring course of the season is taking place at Witham Hockey club on the 15th March. Places are limited and the course DOES sell out every time (it’s for anyone in Essex, not just Brentwood) and the club has agreed to pay the course fee of £40 (in arrears) for you to do the course. The course registration form is attached / can be downloaded from

http://www.essexhockey.co.uk/Public/Handbook.php?EHUA

Unless you’re illiterate or blind (in which case you should have done the course already ;-) ), you’ll know cos I have to keep saying it that most weeks we are very thin on the ground for umpiring cover, frequently relying on the same people to ensure that we can all have games with umpires. There are numerous teams who have few or no umpires within their ranks at all (Ladies 2’s, 3’s and 4’s, Men’s 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 6’s) and that means that it’s logistically quite a juggling act to ensure everyone’s game is covered without asking anyone to miss out on playing themselves. If we had just 2 or 3 in each team, it would mean that each week we can spread the load of umpiring and also make sure we can easily ensure that everyone’s game is covered. Just to re-iterate WE DON’T ASK PEOPLE TO SIT OUT TO UMPIRE THEIR OWN TEAM, INSTEAD WE ASK PEOPLE TO UMPIRE A DIFFERENT GAME TO THE ONE THEY’RE PLAYING IN, and then generally only when they are playing a home game.

I currently have some volunteers who have said they will go, but in order to get an even spread throughout the club we need more to go, especially from the ladies side and the lower mens teams. If you’d like to have a quick chat about umpiring, you can catch me or many other pool umpires in the club on a Saturday; alternatively feel free to give me a call on 07792 727990.

Lastly (perhaps this should be firstly, but never mind) umpiring is honestly great fun and genuinely improves your understanding of the game. When I first took on this role I resolved never to get qualified myself because I didn’t think I’d be any good at it. Just 3 years on and I’m now umpiring in the pool (my own choice, no pressure there) at a much higher level than I have ever played and I get free beer every week.. Give it a go – what have you got to lose?!

Cheers!

Fishy