Development course rewarding experience for umpire coachesWednesday, April 5, 2017 - 9:51 AM

More than 30 community football umpire coaches from across Western Australia got the opportunity to hear from former AFL Umpire Stuart Wenn as part of an intensive professional development course facilitated by the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) on Saturday, March 25.

Wenn, who has umpired more than 300 AFL matches and now has a role with the AFL Umpiring Coaching department, shared his top umpire coaching techniques during a workshop at Leederville Oval.

Wenn stressed the importance of asking umpires questions and confirming their processes in decision-making rather than focussing too heavily on telling the umpires how they could have managed an incident or decision.

The umpire coaches also got the opportunity to observe both Wenn and WAFL Umpire Manager Darryl Sinclair coach umpires at the recent Subiaco v Perth WAFL League match.

Umpire coaches were presented with various tools and strategies to cater to different learning styles amongst umpires and to help make umpire coaching more enjoyable and sustainable by AFL Sportsready in the AFL Advanced Umpire Coach Workshop. 

Umpire coaches developed a sequential coaching plan during this workshop, which will be assessed later in the season when they undergo a delivery competency test.

AFL Victoria Country Umpiring Development Manager Russell O’Toole and WAFC Umpiring Pathway Manager Tim Priest also presented on the importance of umpire accreditation to ensure umpires fulfil their role to assist in mitigating risk to player safety.

Local Great Northern Football League Umpires Advisor Steve Pratt, who heads the umpire panel in Geraldton, said the day was a terrific opportunity to work on and strengthen umpire coaching techniques.

“The day was very professionally constructed, and it was great to reacquaint with experienced umpire coaches and meet some new ones too,” he said.

“It was a terrific opportunity to continue to align to the national mission statements and strengthen the umpire coach pathway and match-day decision making philosophy across all WA football markets.”