Learning to Umpire

Learning to Umpire in action at Curl Curl

Note: The 2023 Umpire Coordinator for Commodores is Cassie Burdon. She’ll be organising all the umpire allocation for games this year and can assist with pathways to accreditation (C Badge) within MWNA and any other umpiring queries you may have. She can be contacted at burdon@optusnet.com.au

Learning to Umpire to a basic standard is mandatory within the Manly Warringah Netball Association. This is because all competition games are umpired by the players and every player must do a few games a season. This system works well as their are many games each weekend and there is not a fleet of paid umpires who could cover the games.

As such this requires each club to umpire the equivalent amount of games for which club teams are playing. This means that all players in all teams have an umpiring responsibility from the age of 12 upwards. All players 12 years and up are expected to umpire their share of games each season.

Whilst this might sound onerous most players enjoy umpiring a few times a season and many go on to become certified umpires and umpire at high level games. A few will even progress to umpiring national and international games and have a very fulfilling career as an umpire. The pathway to becoming a certified umpire can be found HERE.

At the beginning of the season an umpiring roster will be created by our Umpire Convenor, Fran Jones and this will be sent out so umpires know in advance which games they have been allocated. Where possible, umpires will be allocated to umpire younger age groups. Fran or other club members will observe and mentor whenever possible to ensure new umpires are supported.  

As part of this program there will be two compulsory Umpire training sessions for all Under 12 players before the season commences: 

– Theory Session
– Practical Session 

Both sessions will be held at the Boondah Rd netball courts (hard courts).

Any other older new players who haven’t umpired before are also encouraged to join us to gain some knowledge and practical experience before having to umpire their first competition game.

Equipment:

Each umpire will be required to bring the following equipment to the training sessions

  1. Netball Rule Book – copies of these will be for sale but are also available online ; 
  2. Whistle – we recommend a finger grip whistle rather than one hung round the neck;
  3. Notebook and Pencil – we also ask you to obtain a note book so that your mentor can write comments to help your progress in umpiring;
  4. Pencil Case – It’s a good idea to have a pencil case to hold all these items. That way when you are umpiring you just have to pick up the pencil case, rather than be searching around for the various items.
  5. Sunscreen
  6. Drink Bottle

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