Coaching Young Umpires This presentation was created by the England Hockey Regional Young Umpire Action Groups (RYUAGs) for use with Young Umpires at all levels

Coaching Young Umpires Preparation for Coaching  Coaching Young Umpires can be very different from coaching adults  Observe and Listen to Young People  Think about how the young umpire will see you. Is there a large age difference? How can you reduce it?  Their experience of hockey will be much more limited than that of a senior umpire

Coaching Young Umpires The Primary Objective The Key to encouraging Young Umpires and to keep them umpiring is ENJOYMENT If they regard umpiring as fun and the “in” thing to do they will want to umpire again You must do everything you can to make their umpiring an Enjoyable Experience

Coaching Young Umpires Preparation - Understanding your Umpire Learn something about your Young Umpire  Does your young umpire play hockey?  How old is your umpire?  Has your umpire got a Foundation Umpire Award, a Level 1 Award or attended a young umpire coaching course?  How long has your umpire been umpiring?  Has your umpire been coached before?

Coaching Young Umpires Preparation - Help Your Umpire  The most important thing is to send your young umpires onto the pitch confident that they know what to do. CONFIDENCE!  You should be a generator of CONFIDENCE! Get them to believe they can do it.  Check that they are happy with the Basics  Explain and help if they are not …

Coaching Young Umpires Preparation – The Umpiring Basics Make sure your umpires know the basics …  How to blow the whistle  Positioning - where to go to be able to see  Mobility and anticipation  The rules and interpretations Don’t bore them rigid!

Coaching Young Umpires Preparation – The Key to Success Make sure that everyone involved realises the key to success is … GOOD COMMUNICATION To the players, with colleagues and with the support team

Coaching Young Umpires Preparation – The Umpiring Basics Make sure your umpires know & apply the basics well  Help the players – they need to understand  Help each other – umpires are the 3rd team on the pitch  Be aware of areas on the pitch where their colleague could need assistance  Try to get decisions correct and consistent between the two of them  If they have to, take time in making decisions  Use common sense

Coaching Young Umpires Preparation – The Umpiring Basics  Make sure your umpires know the most important basics surrounding any event…  Good preparation = good performance  Make sure they understand the Brief for the Game or the Tournament  Ask if they are not sure about anything  Encourage them to look after themselves and take plenty of drinks / food throughout the day. Rest, relax and have fun

Coaching Young Umpires Watching Young Umpires What to Look For …

Coaching Young Umpires Watching The Game Are you prepared? Think about…  Your watching positions  Your concentration  Looking for the positive points and examples of these to use in your Post Match Discussion  Suggestions - things for your umpire to try next time.

Coaching Young Umpires Watching The Game How do your umpires MANAGE the game?  Setting standards early  TALKING to the players.  Making it easy to umpire  Getting the players 5m from the ball at free-hits every single time  Making sure re-starts are taken correctly

Coaching Young Umpires After the Game As your umpires leave the pitch…  Praise and re-assurance for your umpires is vital. You have to Build Confidence  Suggest and arrange a time to talk.  Keep it light hearted before the review.  How much time before their next game?  If there is a gap do it now.  If not – use a few well chosen words now to build confidence and put minds at ease before the review/feedback.

Coaching Young Umpires Feedback – The Golden Rules Rule 1  For every development suggestion (area for improvement) you suggest, you must first make 3 positive feedback points about things your umpire is doing well! And…support your feedback with examples to illustrate them …  “That was excellent – keep doing that” “I liked the way you did that”

Coaching Young Umpires Feedback – The Golden Rules Rule 2 Take twice as long giving positive feedback as you do making your development suggestions! It is not enough to simply mention good points. You must reinforce them and do it with a smile!

Coaching Young Umpires Giving Feedback Plan your feedback  The Content  When to Give It  How to Give It Remember the ‘Golden Rules’ (slides 14 & 15)  A young umpire will have limited experience of hockey and even less experience of management. Getting through a game without controversy is an achievement in itself!

Coaching Young Umpires Giving Feedback – Positive Feedback 1. When giving positive feedback you must give it context by putting it into the game situation with precise examples. For example: Do not just say … “You played advantage well” Rather … “That was an excellent advantage you played before the second goal. You saw the ball come off the defender’s foot, signalled and gave the forward the chance to shoot. Well done.”

Coaching Young Umpires Giving Feedback – Positive Feedback 2. Avoid using words like…  reasonable, nice, competent, fine, fair or satisfactory Instead, be more encouraging…use words like…  brilliant, smart, excellent, intelligent, skilled, exceptional, shrewd. Just because such words were never used about your umpiring, don’t be afraid to use them for the next generation!!

Coaching Young Umpires G iving Feedback – Positive Feedback 3. Make you development feedback an extension of your positive feedback so that it does not appear negative…and keep it ‘sharp’ For example : An umpire signals advantage very well, but only outside the circle – never inside. Instead of saying: “You really must signal you are playing advantage inside your circle.” Say: “You read advantage superbly. You signal it every time in the middle of the pitch. You now need to do the same in the most important area of the pitch…the circle. Can you do it? Can you show me in your next game. Call it too…use your voice. Is that OK?”.

Coaching Young Umpires Giving Feedback – Positive Feedback Crucially…  You need to consider how what you say will affect young people  Make sure that young people do not feel bad about themselves  Feedback on performance must not be mixed with comments about behaviour or effort

Coaching Young Umpires Giving Feedback – The Future Identify Priorities - What the young umpire needs to learn next  Improve the quality of the young umpire’s performance by refining or adapting what they are doing.  Help them to progress by providing them with more challenging tasks and learning activities, when they are ready.  Stimulate your young umpire’s thinking and actions.

Coaching Young Umpires Giving Feedback – Follow-Up Think about how young people send and receive ‘messages’ to each other Should follow-up feedback be:  Some informal notes on the games?  Informal reminders. e.g. an , phone-call or text?  A more formal Coaching Report? Do what is right for the young umpire, even if that means doing something different for the appointing organisation

Coaching Young Umpires Giving Feedback – Follow-Up The most helpful Records… Are those that also suggest the next step to be taken i.e. an Action Plan or areas to work on.

Coaching Young Umpires And finally … Recognise that throughout the day / event, you need to make their day one that makes them smile, relax and enjoy themselves!

Coaching Young Umpires This presentation has been created by the England Hockey Regional Young Umpire Action Groups for use with Young Umpires at all levels