After long gap in international play, Canadian officials make their return
Laurie Hogan is heading to the Pan American Challenge in Lima, Peru next week and she said she’s excited to simply be back, feeling the rush of international competition again.
Hogan, one of five internationally certified Canadian technical officials and chair of Field Hockey Canada Officials Committee, said nothing compares to the real feeling of an in-person game.
“Although I’m a little anxious on the travel-side of things, I’m really excited to be back,” she said. “It’s been about two years since I was on the pitch for an in-person international match. So, I’m excited to be back, a part of the game and making those decisions.”
Hogan and Sacha-Rae Teixeira are the two Canadian officials appointed to the Pan American Challenge, in Lima slated for September 25 to October 2. The event serves as a qualifier for the Pan American Cup, in which both Canadian women’s and men’s senior national team have already qualified.
Teixeira is a long-time member of the Ontario field hockey community and supports the growth and development of officials in Ontario. She first started officiating in 2007 at the Toronto women’s league. She then received her first PAHF appointment in the winter of 2013. She was a technical delegate at the 2019 Pan American Games doing her mandatory tech training. Teixeira said she’s excited to go back to Lima to work the Pan Am Challenge.
The 2021 Pan American Challenge will be Hogan’s fifth official international event. She said a recent highlight of her officiating career was at the 2019 Pan American Games when she was the timing judge for the women’s bronze medal game between Chile and USA.
“There are three assignments as a technical official,” Hogan said. “You can be assigned as the game manager, the timing manager or the scoring manager. I went into that competition wanting to ‘master the clock’ and I felt I did that and was rewarded with getting to do the bronze medal match.”
Canadian umpires in action
Canadian umpires Tyler Klenk and Joane Wudrich were on the pitch last month for the Junior Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. Klenk, a five-year veteran of the international game is now looking forward to the Junior World Cup, and Wudrich is awaiting her badge-evaluation from her performance at the JPAC.
Later this year, Klenk and Hogan will be traveling to the Junior World Cups (Hogan attending the women’s tournament in South Africa and Klenk traveling to the men’s tournament in India). Hogan said she is proud of all Canadian officials that contribute to the global hockey community.
“It’s amazing the hard work and dedication of our umpires and officials,” Hogan said. “And it’s nice to see them recognized with international appointments around the world.”
Field Hockey Canada’s current stable of international officials includes seven umpires, two umpire managers and five technical officials. Hogan said that the first step to adding more names to those lists is building the officiating pool at the grassroots level.
“We want to provide opportunities for our younger umpires at a domestic level,” Hogan said. “We need to get more young people involved in the officiating of the game and make sure they know we support them. We need to bring them in early at the grassroots level and make the environment welcoming.”
The Field Hockey Canada Officials Committee’s mandate is to identify, develop and prepare officials for domestic and international competition. Looking forward to the new year, between national championships, other domestic championships and international competitions, there will be a lot of opportunity for Canadian officials to grow, learn and develop. If you’d like to get involved, please reach out to your PSO, Club or to the Field Hockey Canada officials committee for direction: officials@fieldhockey.ca.
