TEAM OF TEAMS: Umpires and Officials Week

Field Hockey Canada formally launched our Team of Teams movement in January, 2021. In the first edition of our Teams of Teams Celebration Week, held from March 22nd to 26th, 2021, we will be highlighting umpires and officials throughout the community for their hard work and dedication to the sport. Thank you for engaging with us; you are a part of our team.

Here is what to expect:

1) Stories

This week we will be featuring a series of stories from the perspectives of our Canadian umpires and officials, so be sure to stay tuned to hear what they have to say!

Field Hockey Canada Legacy: Hall of Fame Officials

Why We Umpire: The Hearts Behind the Yellow Shirts

Olympic Reflections: Paula Parks

Evolution of the Technical Table

2) Committee Q&A

Have you heard of Field Hockey Canada’s Officials’ Committee? What to know who they are and what they do? Look out for our Q&A below with Laurie Hogan, the Chair of the Committee, along with member biographies.

3) Polls & Quizzes

Think you’ve got umpire and official level gameplay knowledge? Try your hand at our Rules Trivia. These questions will be posted on our daily Instagram story, with the full set being made available for download.

DOWNLOAD UMPIRES/OFFICIALS WEEK TRIVIA QUIZ | DOWNLOAD ANSWER KEY

4) Recognition of Excellence Album

Field Hockey Canada is proud to have a large group of umpires and officials that span across the nation. We recognize that their excellence from the club, to provincial, to regional, to national and even international level, surrounds us every day and greatly contributes to our programming. We asked our community to nominate individuals in their area for this excellence! All nominations will be displayed in an online album. It’s not too late for you to nominate someone today! VIEW ALBUM HERE.

How Can You Get Involved?

Join us in this movement of celebration! There are plenty of ways YOU can participate. You can start by watching, reading or engaging in our planned activities. You can also share your own stories and posts over your social media channels to recognize the umpires and officials in your area. You can even give kudos to an official or umpire you know by nominating them for their sporting excellence today! To further spread this movement, be sure to use the #fieldhockeycanada and #FHCteamofteams hashtags when sharing personal content or re-sharing ours.

Committee Bios

Committee Q & A

Featuring Laurie Hogan – Officials’ Committee Chair

Field Hockey Canada reached out to Laurie Hogan to learn more about the Officials’ Committee, who they are, what they do and how they contribute to our cross-Canada programming. Take a read to learn more about this fantastic team of members!

1. What is the purpose of the Officials’Committee?

The Officials’ Committee reports to the FHC Board of Directors. Our mandate is to identify, develop and prepare officials for domestic and international competition. When we say Officials, we mean umpires, umpire managers, umpire assessors, umpire coaches (or trainers), technical officials (including judges) and technical delegates.

2. What roles and responsibilities does the committee have?

The committee has a wide range of roles and responsibilities that include everything from developing education and pathways for all officials, to appointing officials to major domestic events, to providing opportunities to promising officials, to working with the PSOs to support their unique needs.

3. What are the daily or monthly tasks associated with being a committee member?

The committee meets monthly, currently each committee member is supporting at least one sub-committee or working group that are focussed on appointments or education. Committee members are expected to support the development of the materials for those groups, however, some of those groups have been more active than others during the pandemic.

4. What does a typical committee meeting entail?

Our meetings are usually about an hour long. We start with an update from our FHC representative. Then we go through updates from the various sub-committees and working groups. We also have an annual work plan that we follow to ensure we are getting our work done in a timely manner. Our busiest time is when we prepare for National Championships, work for those events starts 6-8 months in advance with planning and invitations being released. The work continues right up to the event to make sure we have a good representation of officials from across Canada and ensure we are providing the best possible options to the teams.

5. What sub-committees / working groups are supporting the Officials Committee?

In Fall 2019 we created 4 sub-committees/working groups to help support the work of the committee. These groups are made up of representatives from across Canada. The four groups and their mandates are:

Umpire Education & Pathways Working Group: Develop Umpire Education materials, a pathway for development and ensure information on FHC website is accurate.
Technical Official Education & Pathways Working Group: Develop Tech Officials Education materials and a pathway for development.
Domestic Appointments Sub-Committee: Identify the top officials from across Canada to participate in Nationals.  
International Appointments Sub-Committee: Define a process for recommendations for International Appointments of Umpires, Umpires Managers and Tech Officials; ensure transparent decision making.

6. What kind of challenges does the Committee face?

One of the biggest challenges we face is ensuring we have the proper representation of officials at our National Events. We have to balance: availability of officials, experience of officials, expected level of play and available finances to support the event. It can be a challenge to provide the right development opportunities and balance requirements of the event. It can be a challenge to recruit officials because of availability to commit their time to these events. We spend a lot of time making sure we have enough officials for an event and balancing their experience with our requirements per event.

7. How does the Committee work with the National Teams?

The Committee works closely with the National Teams to provide qualified umpires for National Team events. In supporting our National Teams in their test matches, inter-squad scrimmages and camp events, we are providing opportunities for younger, promising officials through our development pathway. For these events we are trying to balance development with on field leadership and mentorship. Typically, we work with the local Provincial Sport Organization to identify officials ready for development and exposure to higher level events and we try to match them with an International Level official to officiate these matches. I hope that this partnership continues to open up opportunities to use these National Team events as part of our development pathway and provide more and more officials with international level experience and opening up more opportunities for their development.

8. How does the Committee work with FIH and PAHF?

In the past two years, I have worked with the FIH and PAHF mostly around education opportunities and umpire fitness tracking. We’ve worked to open up communications with FIH to seek clarity, provide suggestions for improvement and better understand processes and decisions.

We have worked very closely with the PAHF in the last two years, specifically with their Appointments Committee as well as their Education Committee. Most of our work has been focused on education and working with the PAHF Education Committee to provide free education to our Canadian Officials. In the Fall of 2020 PAHF hosted the first event exclusively for Canadian officials where we discussed the evolution of hockey and the changing expectations for officials.

Resources

Check out our resources page to learn more about the rules, regulations and assessment forms associated with becoming an umpire and/or official.