As clubs are running their first practice matches so too are the VAFA umpires preparing for the season ahead. Many of the men and women in green had their first run at the weekend too and this year the umpire numbers at training have been fairly solid according to Head Umpires Coach Tony Hales.
“We’ve had 85 field umpires, about 40 boundary umpires, about 20 goal umpires who’ve attended at least once so far at Elsternwick Park training sessions, although these numbers do not include those that have attended training at our new facility at Westbourne Grammar” Hales told vafa.com.au.
The VAFA’s new Head of Umpiring, Brian Woodhead said that whilst these numbers are strong, the competition still needs more umpires in order to function.
“With the season only a few weeks away, we will see a pick up in the number of umpires attending training sessions, but it is important for umpires to attend now if they can.
The training nights for umpire training at Elsternwick Park move to Tuesday and Thursday next week, with tonight being the last Wednesday night.
Next Tuesday night (March 24) also doubles as the VAFA New Umpires Induction Night, with all parents and friends welcome to attend.
The Umpires have had a vigorous pre-season, with a Beep test and a 2km time trial being two of the feature assessments for fitness levels.
“Pre-season training is as much about getting the miles in the legs as it is about ensuring our interpretations are in line with the VAFA Rules and the Laws of the Game” said Hales.
These are the Beep Test results are as follows
Boundary umpire average was 11:1 with the top three performers: James Hackett-Smith 13:9; Sam Beer 13:9; Leigh Cockinis 13:4. The field umpire average was 11:3 with the top three being: Peter Bailes 14:6; Cameron Dore 14:1; and Matt Clinton 14:1.
In the 2km time trial results, the field umpires had an average time 8 minutes 28 seconds with the top three: Peter Bailes 6:31; Matt Clinton 6:40; Jacob Rockwell 6:45. The boundary umpires average time was 8:17 with the top three: Cooper Joyce 6:35; Bailey Joyce 6:40; Adrian Pretorius 6:41
Woodhead was also keen to stress the importance of umpire registrations.
“All of our umpires need to register, it is just like the players, if you plan to umpire even just one match you still need to register, so please do” he said
You can catch up with the Umpires pre-season training by watching the video from the VAFA UA.
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