08.09.08
Young Umpires
> Regional Young Umpire Action Group (RYUAG)The West now has a young umpiring management group - known as the Regional Young Umpire Action Group (RYUAG) - who organise and oversee all young umpire development activities in partnership with local HDO’s and HUA’s.
The RYUAG group consists of:
Liz Powell | David Lillywhite | Kevin Twissell | Sandy Richards | Yvonne Claridge | Jane Cornelius (our England Hockey Regional Manager)
The key tasks of the West RYUAG are to identify opportunities for young people to learn about umpiring and the Rules of the game and then enable them to whistle at Mini Hockey games or games involving young players. Recruitment will be encouraged in the Clubs and in the Counties and our plan is to offer more umpiring courses for young people over the next 12 months. The Group are looking forward to ‘making it happen’ and are keen to hear from any Clubs who would like to offer their young players an opportunity to get an umpiring accreditation (Young Umpire Award or Foundation Umpire Award).
Our theme is ‘start, stay and succeed’… ‘start’ by recruiting new young umpires. Support and motivate them while providing a high quality programme of opportunities and events, taking them through to the ‘stay’ stage and then, with those who demonstrate real talent, encourage and assist them through to the next level... ‘succeed’.
> National Young Umpire Promising List (NYUPL)
Following his performance at the National Youth Festival in 2006, Sam Stickland (Somerset) was selected to be one of 21 young English umpires recognised as having the talent and the potential to progress to high level performance.
This was the first ever West appointment to the NYUPL!
We are delighted that Sam has now been joined on the NYUPL by two further West young umpires - congratulations to Nick Bennett (Somerset) and Lauren Hutchings (Devon).
These young umpires will be managed, coached and assessed on an ongoing basis and, as their assessment teams report on their progress, they will be allocated to suitable youth tournaments and events to help them develop further.
> Regional Youth Panel
We are seeking young volunteers in the West (age 16-24) to join our Regional Youth Panel. The Youth Panel will hopefully increase the profile of young volunteers in hockey in the build up to London 2012. We are looking for panel members with experience in playing, coaching, umpiring or leadership. The panel is led by two of our experienced senior volunteers in the West and the next project is to organise the annual West Youth Festival (Mini Hockey Championships) at Millfield School in April, in partnership with the RYUAG.
If you are interested in sitting on this Panel please contact Jane Cornelius jane.cornelius@englandhockey.org for further information. In doing so you could follow in the footsteps of Somerset’s Harry Stickland who was the youngest judge at the Eurohockey Nations Championships in Manchester in August 2007. This was his first international event and a key marker in his rise as part of the FIH’s Youth Development Policy for officials. Harry’s involvement culminated with him being a judge in the exciting Men’s Bronze Medal match between Belgium & Germany. Subsequently, he has been appointed Tournament Director at the Girl’s Regional Tournaments held at Millfield School in October.
Harry also sits on the National Youth Panel, which gives young people a voice at national strategic level.