During the weekend 26th-28th of June UDP group 7 met once again in Brasschaat (Belgium), during the Fintro Hockey World League Semi-Finals. This time, only 2 of the group could participate (Michiel Otten and Pietro Galligani) while a third, Laurine Delforge was one of the appointed umpires at the tournament and Mentor Carol Metchette was the Video Umpire.
On Friday night Michiel Otten and Pietro Galligani reached the official tournament hotel were Laurine Delforge and mentor Carol Metchette and all other FIH officials and umpires were staying. During the evening the umpires of the men’s tournament, many FIH officials, and even Leandro Negre made time to join UDP group 7. They had an informal and very pleasant chat with them about umpiring in general and the tournament itself.
Saturday, the alarm was set for an early breakfast. After breakfast the Umpires Manager of the men’s tournament, Clive McCurray, presented the group the same Umpires Briefing he also given to all the umpires of the tournament, focusing on some very important aspects of umpiring like connecting and communicating with players, zooming in and out during certain situations during the game, and protecting technical skills. After this very inspiring session the group joined Peter von Reth at the venue, who joined the group watching the games and chatting about other vital points of umpiring as managing cards and differences in umpiring styles.
On Saturday evening, Pietro and Michiel had dinner with the male umpires of the tournament and discussed ways to stay focused during a two-week tournament like the Hockey World League. After dinner we were invited by the women’s umpiring team to join the celebration party of Claire Adenot, who reached the milestone of 100 caps!
Sunday morning UDP group 7 had a debriefing about the games we had watched on Saturday, and looked ahead to the men’s games scheduled for Sunday. At the venue we met Peter Elders who shared with us his ideas about the tournament and gave us some very useful tips on how to notice important things when watching a game.
Pietro and Michiel said: “We take the lessons we learned during the weekend to our next tournaments around Europe and will meet again with the whole UDP group 7 at our next meeting in London for the European Championships!”
Source: EHF/Pietro Galligani and Michiel Otten
Photographs: EHF