We’re pleased to announce that after the success of the first “Introduction to Umpiring” course organised in October 2019, a second one has been confirmed for Monday 9th December at 7pm to 8:30pm at Marlow Sports Club.

The course is delivered by Angus Porter and is designed to give you enough information, advice and confidence to get you started as an umpire. It’s a great first step towards becoming a Level 1 assessed umpire, which is the first tier of the England Hockey umpiring structure.

Note that whilst the course will cover how the rules are applied, it is not designed to go through the rulebook. We suggest that before attending the course, participants should register with the EH hockey hub and complete the on-line “rules of hockey” module found here: https://hockeyhub.englandhockey.co.uk/officiating

Our growth and continued success as a club means that we need more volunteers to step forward to umpire matches at the weekend (senior matches on Saturdays and junior matches on Sundays). Whilst the course is open to all players, both junior and senior, we are particularly keen to see senior players put their hands up.

The course is free to attend and the longer term incentive for senior players is that you don’t pay match fees at the weekend, if you also umpire a match on that day.

If you would like to attend the course, please email Simon Babes (simonjbabes@hotmail.com) before Sunday 1st December. We’ll allocate places on a first come, first served basis and there are fifteen spaces. Further information will be emailed out ahead of the course, to confirmed attendees.

For those who want to move on to more formal umpire training there will be a L1 Umpire Course held at Marlow Sports Club in January, which is available for bookings at http://hockeyhub.englandhockey.co.uk/events

The deadline is 26th December 2019 or until full. Places are first come first served and only secure when booked and paid for online. Minimum participants is 14

Cost is £50 but MHC will reimburse 50% after participants have umpired 5 matches

Details of the course are as follows:

Date: 05 January 2020
Time: 09:00:00-16:30:00
Venue: Marlow Sports Club, Pound Lane, Marlow SL7 2AE
Organiser: Andy Parsons, 07753727659
Tutor: Ray Hipkin, 07743166919.