Twenty-seven umpires and eight judges from EuroHockey development programmes came together in Breda for a hugely productive get-together at BHV Push.
It featured 17 umpires from the Umpires for Europe (U4E) course and 10 from the Umpires for Nations (U4N) and was their second seminar with their first taking place in Vienna in April.
Throughout the weekend, the umpires had a fitness test, were appointed to games at a tournament hosted by BHV Push, and had mentor meetings where they discussed their progress.
Eight promising umpires from this group will be selected for Umpire Development Programme (UDP) group 17 which will be announced in the coming weeks.
They worked in tandem with the Judges for Europe (J4E) course which had eight judges take part from six countries; they were educated by Rogier Warris (NED) and Edna Rutten (NED) via a classroom session
They then had the opportunity to sharpen their skills on the side of the pitch in conjunction with Joyce Wijnhoven (BEL) who was the tournament TD, working with Leon Rutten (NED) as technical official and Paco Vasques (ESP) as umpire’s manager.
Reflecting on the weekend, mentor Dawn Bonner said: “Breda presents a great opportunity for EuroHockey to coach and develop the future generation of international young umpires.
“The success is the format which includes a briefing from an accredited umpire’s manager and matches with junior players from Dutch clubs who have a high level of ability that gives the young umpires a good opportunity to practice their umpiring skills as preparation for international hockey.
“It also allows them to mix and work with their peers while having fun. This is a great EuroHockey programme that supports international young umpire development which supplements the education element that is delivered at Easter.”
Julia Jungbluth (GER) is one of the U4N participants and she added: “This was a great opportunity to be coached by experienced international umpire managers, exchange our perspectives on umpiring and learn from our fellow umpires from all over Europe.
“It was an amazing chance to show and improve our skills at a top level as well as to bond and make friends with like-minded people who are on the same development path as us.”
From the J4E course, Irene Corales agreed: “It was a very comfortable and complete dynamic with lessons in the morning which we could put into practice in the afternoon; a course to learn the role of EuroHockey judge, from within and in action.”
U4E participant Aleš Větrovský (CZE) – now in his second year on the progamme – added: “If someone wants to improve their whistling and get further in Europe, this is definitely a good way.
“The views of people from abroad are, in many ways, different from those in the Czech Republic while you have Olympic umpires also watching over you and helping you like Paco Vázquez this year.
“In addition, the umpires you meet there are very likely to be met at various tournaments for the rest of your international career.”
** To find out more about each of the programmes mentioned, go to the EuroHockey Institute page here: https://eurohockey.org/eurohockey-institute#institute-officiating-umpires
