The Umpire Development Programme Group 14 celebrated their graduation at the EHL Men KO16 with seven umpires completing the course designed for those with the potential to reach the international stage.
Lizelotte Wolter (NED), Ellie Duffy (IRL), Harry Collinson (ENG), Richard Muller (GER), Tommy Croese (BEL), Katie Howie (SCO) and Łukasz Orzeł (POL) are the latest graduates from the programme which has played a key role in the development of numerous top-level officials over the past decade.
It provides a bespoke two-year course, working with each umpire on a variety of aspects to up their game, working with mentors and in group to look at the likes of gameplay, technical knowledge, effective communication, tournament preparations and match management.
The participants attended tournaments in Hamburg (EHL KO16), Amstelveen (EHL FINAL8), Vienna (EuroHockey Trophy) and Barcelona (EHL KO16) to analyse and workshop themselves and umpiring counterparts in action.
This comes in addition to guaranteed appointments around Europe at the various club and international competitions on the calendar.
We caught up with Lizelotte, Ellie, Tommy and Katie to talk about their UDP journey, a slightly lengthened one due to the Covid-19 pandemic with the majority of the group starting in 2019.
Their umpiring journeys to date have taken different forms. For Katie, she began her umpiring 14 years ago at Beeston Hockey Club before moving to Scotland for university.
There, Scottish Hockey encouraged her to take on the Umpires 4 Nations (U4E) EuroHockey course, a nudge which set her on course for the UDP.
“At age 14 in Beeston, I wanted to do more for the club,” she said of her umpiring genesis. “I was playing in the age group programme and coaching as well so decided to try umpiring.
“I was fortunate someone recognised me and said: ‘you seem to be alright at this!’ so I was put forward for a Midlands Young Umpire. From there, it progressed. When I went to university, because my umpiring took off, I started doing it more than playing.
“It is about the support I got at the right times. If I hadn’t been seen at the right times – in Scotland we have great support – I don’t think I would be in this same position. When I was 14, I knew nothing about this. Getting older, you see all the things you can do with it and it is really enjoyable.”
For Ellie, her beginnings came at university in Galway in the west of Ireland. Her start came with something of a back-handed complement but she quickly picked up a strong support network to open her eyes to opportunity.
“I started in college; another official picked me up and said ‘you’re not awful! Do you want to do some more?’
“From there, I got more coaching – [EuroHockey umpiring mentor] Tom Goode put in a lot of work with me – and I got lucky that he is our UDP mentor. It’s great to have people like Tom on the end of the phone to call and he has been our constant since 2019 and is always onto us, asking what is your next appointment, how are you prepping, can I help you?
“I was also in the lucky position to have Ali Keogh [a former UDP participant and umpire in the 2023 EuroHockey Championship women’s final] who I can try to follow in her footsteps. I was able to use her experiences of what to do and where to go, pull from that pathway and follow it through.”
In addition to Tom Goode, who was with the group since 2019, the group wanted to thank the team of mentors that helped guide their progress, namely Roel van Eert, Frances Block and Caroline Brunekreef.
Lizelotte Wolter’s UDP story traverses the birth of her first child, something that has scarcely slowed her down. She was able to continue officiating until the end of Dutch Hoofdklasse playoffs, stepping in before and after the birth into video umpire roles and has since returned in full force to be selected for the Junior World Cup in Chile later this year.
She cites the “exposure to coaching and mentoring” as crucial aspects.
Tommy Croese is the “baby” of the group at just 21 years old. He has, however, been blowing the whistle since he was 13 with the encouragement of the Belgian umpiring community.
“I was always passionate about umpiring. It is part of my personality when I was younger. In primary school, I was already doing football games and it was something I, somehow, loved to do.
“I was never really that good at playing hockey and so my club took great pleasure in telling me ‘you can be a very good umpire!’ It went quickly after that, getting the opportunity to step onto the U4E programme in 2018 with the backing of the KBHB.
“In Belgium, I am very lucky to have a lot of good people around, supporting us. It is so nice to have something on top of your national federation, people you can rely on.
“People in this group, you can rely on to call and say I want to talk about something. It gives a different angle from your national association and an opportunity to speak with people outside your regular circle.”
That experience-sharing is a core value of the course as Ellie explains.
“The big focus of UDP is to get to these tournaments, to see behind the scenes so that when we do get to this level, we are not intimidated! It was difficult [during Covid] to get that experience but now we are trying to get out and about as much as possible.”
Katie adds: “We meet the groups either below or above us. We watch the hockey, analyse the other umpires and then get to chat with them. In Barcelona, it was nice to see two of the umpires in this tournament – Rebecca Woodcock and Daniel Veerman – were in the UDP group above us.
“Sébastien Michielsen was a few years before as were quite a few of the others. You can see their progression and also the pathway for us.”
“We also look at our positioning with lots of clips and how positioning is changing as the game evolves, particularly with how fast it is. And it was nice to see it in real life on the pitch!”
Katie also picks out a session with German women’s head coach Valentin Altenburg as a highlight, bridging that connection between umpires and coaches at a high level.
It is the kind of unique interaction and insight which she says is vital to hers – and her counterparts – personal growth and potentially reaching the highest levels.
“For me, when I finish my umpiring career, I want to have achieved what was possible for me. I don’t want to look back and think I half-arsed this and that’s why I didn’t get what I wanted; I want to take every opportunity [like this] I can get.
Tommy concurs: “Knowing you have done everything you personally can do There are a lot of things we can’t control but knowing we have taken all we can from the UDP is one we can control!”
** You can find out more about the UDP here: https://eurohockey.org/eurohockey-institute#institute-officiating-umpires
