This week I am umpiring at the New Zealand under 18 Championships Hockey tournament in Levin. So far I have umpired two games. The first one was Horowhenua Vs Wellington B. This match was very tight with a final result of a draw. Reflecting on my umpiring in this match, it was not my best umpiring. Yet, it was not my worst either. I think this was practically because I didn't know the other umpire very well and he was more dominate than I expected. This making me not as confident. This also being the first match it didn't go down that well. The other thing that could influenced my umpiring was I brought a new whistle earlier that day. I found the whistle quite different to the one I have been using for years. So I have gone back to my original.
The second game went so much better, even though Wellington B went down 11-0 to Auckland B. My goals I had set after the previous match were to sort my body language out so I could sell my decisions well, and to use 'whistle tone' well. I was umpiring with an older guy that hadn't umpired much before so the confidence thing wasn't such an issue. Also thinking about making my signals clear and strong with I did signal made a big difference. Still could do with a little bit of work though. With the whistle tone, I had a comment that I couldn't be heard from the other side of the field. This meant making the short whistles louder and sharper, as well as the long whistles sharp too. I think I hit this on the head 90% of the time. But as per usual, there's still room to improve.
I'm not sure who I am umpiring today, or who with. Should be fun with another day of brilliant weather here on the west coast.
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