The latest participants in the Umpire Development Programme (UDP) have been confirmed with eight promising officials from eight different countries making up Group 15 of the EHF initiative.
Pauline Cuypers (Belgium), Lorijn de Kraker (Netherlands), Zoë Hall (England), Noelia Blanco (spain), Raphaël Adrien (Germany), Michael Pivko (Slovakia), Jamie Telfer (Scotland) and Anatole Platel (France) are the umpires nominated for this intake of the UDP. For Group 15, the mentors will be Fanneke Alkemade (pictured above) and Paco Vazquez, both of whom have umpired at Olympic Games and have vast experience on the international stage.
The UDP is an excellence umpiring programme run by the European Hockey Federation which aims to improve the performance of highly talented young umpires who have shown the potential to become an international top-level umpire.
The programme takes in a comprehensive, blended learning approach, with each group working with highly qualified mentors.
It incorporates a mixture of classroom-based learning sessions where participants talk about the principles and thoughts behind umpiring alongside a hugely practical pitchside element.
Rob ten Cate is part of the EHF Lead Umpire Working Group which plays a central role in the UDP and he is pleased to welcome the latest additions to see how it can help their evolution.
“I think the success of UDP is that we created a community of people who love umpiring. It is not so much about the appointments to tournaments or games, as that is not within our control but it is nice to see that three out of the four umpires that umpired the Olympic Finals are members of the UDP community.
“Another aspect which is key to UDP is that every umpire decides what they want to learn; listen, watch, learn and then contribute – and that is different for every individual.”
Umpire Development Programme Group 15
Pauline Cuypers (Belgium)
Lorijn de Kraker (Netherlands)
Zoë Hall (England)
Noelia Blanco (spain)
Raphaël Adrien (Germany)
Michael Pivko (Slovakia)
Jamie Telfer (Scotland)
Anatole Platel (France)
