At the final weekend of the Volvo EuroHockey Junior Championships, women and men in Den Bosch (the Netherlands) the EHF organised the second Umpires Managers Seminar. In 2011 a special seminar was organised for only female umpires managers. This time it was a mixed group of 7 male and 5 female.
The background of this seminar is to educate newly appointed or future UMs so they will able to support and coach the present and new generation umpires. In general umpires who retire or decide to stop for other reason continue their involvement in hockey by starting a career as umpires manager. Last year the EHF decided to organise every year a seminar for this group, as to support umpiring and the development of umpires.
In the edition in 2012 it was possible to make a combination of theory and pratice. After a welcome session in which Marijke Fleuren, President of the EHF, wished all participants good luck for the future, the first workshop was focused on the job and the roles of an umpires manager. Provided with a task the group moved from the hotel to the venue of Den Bosch, where the group was split up into smaller groups to assess the women umpires at the matches for the bronze and for the gold medal. After these matches the group returned to the hotel and worked on an individual basis to provide Louise Knipe, as one of the course conductors, with a draft for the umpire feedback form.
The feedback was discussed and was followed by a workshop regarding the marking of umpires, based on the FIH Marking System. Positive and effective discussions lead to a better understanding of the marking system, in particular in relation to the ranking of umpires at the start of their careers. Coaching of umpires, writing the umpire feedback forms were a few of the special topics.
The next morning, on Sunday, the seminar continued with the workshop regarding How to make appointments. Jorge Alcover, vice-president of the EHF, was the special guest during this workshop. This one was followed by the workshop regarding: How to make and how to present a briefing. Focus was: how to get the best interaction and the best result. A lot of ideas have been shared amongst the participants and not only fort his topic.
The final part of the seminar was focussed on the Mental Skills of umpiring and a lot of varied questions from the participants. The next step of new umpires managers will be a traineeship during a tournament.
This seminar was organised by Yolande Brada, one of the course conductors, and based on a co-operation between the EHF Education Committee and the EHF Appointments Committee.
