Brussels, 20th September 2091: Our #FridayFocus today highlights the work of educating our Judges for Europe. With over 30 events each year, and requiring over 100 judges, the education of those judges is paramount to the successful running of an event!
Twenty promising judges from fourteen countries all over Europe made history by participating in the 7th Judges for Europe Seminar which took place in Breda, NED on 23 – 25 August 2019.
The Seminar was run by Iain McKay and Magda Nazaret, two top European technical officials and along with the Push Hockey Club Trophy 2019, an annual hockey tournament organised by the Push hockey club and organised by Peter De Leeuw as the Technical Delegate.
On the first day of the Seminar, the role of a judge was presented to all. This would be supported by real pitch experience, the participants would find out what their duties as judges will be, on and off the pitch, what are the match protocols, the uniform code and what “tools” are “must-haves” in ones pencil case.
On the second day of the Seminar, they were divided into two groups to let them experience both theoretical and practical activities. They were doing an equipment check on actual hockey gear, assigning colours for teams to play but most importantly they were appointed as real officials at the Push Trophy tournament. The Technical Delegate of the tournament, Peter De Leeuw, who was making sure the tournament was run in accordance with rules and regulations of hockey, was very happy to give our participants the chance to actually do the job. So, being divided into groups of three, they prepared match reports, managed the team benches areas, kept the official time of the matches, recorded matches’ details like goal scorers, injuries and manage suspensions as well! With four hockey pitches occupied with matches at the same time throughout the whole day, there was a lot of work and our participants surely couldn’t have been given a better opportunity to see what it is like to be a judge.
Third and the last day of the Seminar continued to be full of work covering every aspect of a judge’s role. Practical exercises on TMS, entry forms, passport checks, appointments and completion of match sheets kept them busy. On and off the pitch, our judge again had a chance to learn and practice their skills. Going back to Push Hockey Club facilities, they had to set their technical tables areas and make sure the team managers had given their starting elevens for the upcoming matches. As they were being exposed to real competition, some had a chance to run a shootout competition which they said themselves was a truly exciting experience.
At the end of the day, we had to say goodbye. Hopefully, many of us will see each other again on a hockey pitch somewhere in Europe.
The Judges 4 Europe Seminar was a very intense and productive weekend of hockey and hopefully a good start of a wonderful hockey adventure for its participants.
If you need any further explanation or details, please contact:
EHF Education and Development Manager
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