The last weekend in August brought us not only incredible hockey at the Rabo EuroHockey Championships, but also it was time for our biggest Education event of the year once again! EHF umpires, officials and umpire coaches arrived in Breda for a full weekend of hockey and learning at the Breda Push Trophy ( 25 – 27 August).
The umpires responsible for over 60 matches (!) are all part of our Umpires 4 Europe programme, which is part of our Umpiring Pathway. The 31 umpires present, from over 20 different countries, had an opportunity to not only umpire, but to receive live feedback from their mentors and one another.
The mentors for this edition were:
Pierre-Philippe van Besien (BEL)
John Heron (SCO)
JF Stappaerts (BEL)
Mirjam Wessel (NED)
Belen Gonzales (ESP)
Tamas Hermann (HUN)
Also present were Paul Box-Grainger (ENG), Ray O’Connor (IRL) and Craig Gribble.
Paul and Ray observed the umpires during the weekend to determine who will be invited to join the next UDP group, UDP Group 12! Watch this space for an announcement soon!
View from the Inside
Two of the umpires, Zamara Espinosa (GIB) and Veronika Fetcher (AUT) sent us a brief report of their experiences over the weekend:
Another U4E weekend at Breda full of new experiences, fun, friends and hard work just ended.
It started on Friday with the Yo-Yo fitness test followed by a night full of enjoyment and many conversations with our mentors and old/new friends.
On Saturday we had an early start- eight umpires could not sleep in and had to make their first whistle at 8:15. Together with the mentors and the umpire coaches we were all able to show our skills and to develop through the feedback we got.
On Sunday everyone tried to improve further to help the players show their full potential.
We umpired a total of 64 games, shared by 20 Nations and 31 European friends who are now part of our U4E Family! It was a weekend we will never forget, because Umpires 4 Europe is not just about hockey, it is also about friendship, fun and feedback.
Are you interested in the U4E programme or one of our umpiring programmes? Make sure to email us your questions!