Los Reyes Tournament Thoughts

JANUARY 2009

LOS REYES TOURNAMENT – A ROOKIE’S TALE

I was very pleased to have been appointed to such a prestigious event and venue, and to be selected along with some Premier Umpires and young European umpires with the expectation of umpiring a standard of hockey I don’t always encounter every week. For me, I am happy to consider this as having been an ‘International’ appointment – well it was my first time umpiring abroad, so what’s one word between friends. People kept congratulating me on the appointment and asking if I was nervous. I thought I was missing the point somewhere along the line as I didn’t really appreciate what would be asked of me. I was nervous that I wasn’t feeling nervous, if that makes any sense.

I set some personal goals around working on player management, positioning and body language without the ‘luxury’ of verbal dialogue, which often ‘complicates’ some of my EHL match situations. I also hoped to see some of Barcelona. I lost count of the times I was told what I needed to go and see in the City I did have to point out that I would be umpiring some hockey, which would obviously have to take first place.

Certainly the hockey was of a good standard, and I was appointed to matches which stretched me and paired me with umpires where sometimes the pre-match chat had to include some non-standard sign language. I think I talked loudly and slowly enough for my English to be understood. The trouble is that I forgot to change this when talking to the Umpire Manager. It was rewarding and interesting at the same time to be part of a team who HAD varied reactions to the tournament as an experience.

Paul Box-Grainger did warn us that we would have to make some arrangements for ourselves off the pitch. He wasn’t wrong, but I don’t feel that any of it detracted from my overall enjoyment of the weekend. Unfortunately, the facilities were not always easy to access, especially for the female umpires;however this did improve towards the end of the weekend. I certainly now appreciate even more the technical teams in the UK and the organisation which we take for granted. Naively I took at face value the information that tournament shirts would be provided and neglected to take sufficient kit. Thanks to my colleagues, I managed to get through by borrowing things, but the players didn’t always want to get near me when being shown cards – funny that! I should have remembered to re-read Hannah’s submission from the previous year’s tournament.

Without the ‘worry’ of potential marks and assessments, it was fantastic to have exchanges of ideas and discussions with all the umpires. I’d like to thank all the umpires, along with Box, Margaret Hunnaball and Sandy Richards for their time and input. I’d encourage anyone to take the opportunity if offered this appointment.

Finally, yes I did manage to see some of Barcelona. The transport systems are very easy to negotiate (unless you’re called Laura or Anna and try to walk home!) and I had a couple of enjoyable sessions exploring the city. I’ll have to go back to see so much more, but managed to visit the Sagrada Familia Gaudi cathedral (Wow), Las Ramblas with the street entertainers (very good) and caged birds (not so Wow at all) and covered food market (eye popping). Who could resist the Dunking Donuts outlets? The Port Veil boardwalk and the gothic quarter with the small shops, squares and churches were fantastic for just ambling and exploring without having one’s nose in a tourist map. I also managed to learn a few words of Spanish, but quite a few times, just had to do the ‘gallic shrug’ and say “Inglese”.

Sarah Chapman