At any major tournament, such as the Hockey World League Semi Finals taking place in Antwerp, Buenos Aires and Valencia, team work is a quality that is in high demand. But, when the sides take to the pitch there is more than two sets of teams at work. While the kudos might go to the 22 athletes on the field, there are two more people whose performances are crucial to the success of the game – and at their very best they go unnoticed.

Just like the players, the umpires are part of a team and here we speak to a person whose job it is to make sure that the umpiring team is also performing at its peak.

Renee Cohen is a former Dutch international umpire, who along with her fellow Umpire Manager Jean Duncan, will be taking charge of the umpires working in Valencia at one of the women’s semi finals. She explains what that role entails: “We aim to do everything possible within our control to create the right environment for umpires to perform at their best. Consistency throughout the tournament is one of the most important factors, so we arrange team building exercises, fitness training, briefings, match de-briefs, organising transportation and making sure everybody is fed and watered.”

Renee added that she is also there to lend an ear or provide a shoulder to cry on when things get tense or tough.

The likeable Dutchwoman brings plenty of experience to the role. During her own international umpiring career she has blown the whistle at two Olympic Games, two World Cups, six Champions Trophies and two European Championships, as well as dozens of other international events. This gives her both the credentials to perform her role as well as the empathy that is sometimes needed when working with umpires and players in a highly pressured competitive environment.

Her day-to-day job also helps her fulfil her FIH role. She is vice president in charge of European sales and marketing for American independent hotel management company Interstate Hotels and Resorts. Along with five colleagues, Renee currently manage 21 hotels in The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Hungary and Bosnia under various franchised brands.

This, she says, is the perfect fit: “I absolutely bring the skills and attributes from my day job to this role (Umpire Manager). And vice versa too. Good people skills, coaching and leadership skills and communication skills are a prerequisite to be successful as an umpire manager and as a manager in daily life. I have learnt as an umpire manager and brought that experience to my work and I have learned as a manager in daily life and brought those skills to the pitch and the umpiring team.”

The greatest challenge facing Renee and Jean in Valencia will be “keeping everybody happy,” says Renee. “As Umpire Managers you try to create a group that performs as a team both on and off the pitch. But in the end, every umpire wants to do “the big games” and only two people per game can be appointed. So managing expectations and dealing with disappointment is a challenge.”

As Umpire Manager, Renee often finds herself having post-match discussions with team coaches and this can sometimes get heated. “Umpires make mistakes, teams lose,” she says with the same calmness she employs pitch side. “The Umpire Manager is sometimes used by coaches to share their frustrations, others give useful feedback to help us develop our umpires for the better of the game.”

For Renee, the most pleasurable part of her role is to see her umpires performing well. “I would like to think I play a crucial, and often invisible, part of the success of hockey as a sport. I can be incredibly proud of “my girls” performing well on the pitch. Umpires generally get very little recognition and very few people actually know how much these 100 per cent volunteers invest in their umpiring careers.”

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