Paul Box-Grainger was awarded a EuroHockey Diploma of Merit last weekend at the NPUA’s annual conference, a fitting occasion as one of the driving forces in setting up the English umpires development framework and yearly conference.
Paul spent 10 years on the Umpires Education Committee and the last few years on the Officials Committee covering UM appointments.
Among many other developments, he helped transform the umpire pathway with major enhancements to the Umpire Development Programme (UDP) and instigator of the Umpires for Europe (U4E) programme as well as making Breda a yearly destination for umpires to come together to grow and learn.
Paying tribute to Paul at the presentation of the Diploma of Merit, EuroHockey Vice President Inez Cooper said: “Our programmes would be nothing without fantastic and committed mentors. Paul’s passion, enthusiasm and persuasive powers, meant we rarely had unfilled roles.
“Paul introduced his company production team to video the umpires and have the mentors provide voiceover feedback with each attendee getting a personalised video a week after returning home.
“Now, Breda is the selection route for UDP and U4E multi-year programs – with about 40 umpires from over 30 nations attending – where many umpires have kickstarted their careers.
“EuroHockey has a great platform that is the envy of other continental federations, where we can see up and coming young talent from all over Europe and place them in a programme where they can develop and mix with like-minded umpires and be inspired to set their own goals.
“Recently, Paul has redesigned the umpire feedback system so that EuroHockey gets more reliable feedback on its umpire managers.
“This only scratches the surface on some of his achievement for the development of EuroHockey umpriring.
“Paul is always willing to put people first, listen to them, learn from them and champion them. And he gets so much joy and enthusiasm when he sees young umpires develop and progress.”
Paul received a standing ovation from over 100 past and present umpires and friends in the room.
** Paul is pictured (left to right) with Magda Nazaret, Simon Mason and Inez Cooper
