k e e l y | d u n n

Canada vs. India, the latest chapter in my umpiring career. « John Hrytsak's Random Thoughts Blog

A stellar entry in my good friend John Hrytsak's blog. He's a terrific writer and just reading his post gets me excited about going out for my next match.

Canada vs. India, the latest chapter in my umpiring career. « John Hrytsak's Random Thoughts Blog.

FIH to use EHL's "green card" variation for upcoming tourneys

The FIH has announced that they will implement the EHL rules variation mandating a 2-minute suspension for a green card in the upcoming Men's ABN AMRO Champions Trophy in Melbourne as well as the 3 BDO WorldHockey World Cup Qualifiers in France, New Zealand and Argentina.

At those tournaments, players receiving a green card will be automatically suspended from the match for 2 minutes and their team will play with one less player, in the same fashion as a yellow card suspension. The technical officials will time the 2 minutes and allow the suspended player back onto the pitch immediately after the 2 minutes has been served.

This is a very interesting development, one aimed at removing the perception that a green card is nothing but a slap on the wrist and offers teams an opportunity to "get away with one" before they buckle down and play with discipline. From my conversations with EHL umpires who have experience with using green card suspensions, it can also put more onus on the umpires to use their full repertoire of control measures to try to prevent green cards from being needed since they now have a greater impact on the game.

FIH adopts variation to tournament regulations.

gillian batey earns FIH badge

A quick note of congratulations to Canadian umpire Gillian Batey, who recently earned her FIH badge at the Champions Challenge II tournament in Kazan this summer. Fantastic work, Gillian, and we look forward to your continued progress on the world stage!

highlights from ITA v WAL euronations trophy 2009

Big thanks to Statshockeyvideo.com for uploading the footage!

headed for the nfl: Sarah Thomas

Mississipean Sarah Thomas has worked her way up from youth leagues to being the only female referee in major college football, and also has reffed New Orleans Saints' training camps.

An All-American basketball player at University of Mobile and 5-letter softball player in high school, Thomas obviously loves sports and has found her niche officiating in a sport that she didn't even play. Back in 2007, when first made history breaking into the college ranks, the referee coordinator said:

"She came highly recommended by two NFL scouts," said Gerry Austin, a longtime NFL referee and the conference's coordinator of officials. "She has a good presence and demeanor. I feel like she has the ability and courage to make a call, and the guts to not make one, too."

She's now expected to be the first woman to be invited to referee in the NFL.

First Woman Refereeing Top-Tier College Football Games.

Earning Her Stripes in College Football

Thomas will become first female referee in top tier of college football

Sarah Thomas Getting Looks From NFL

two more great umpires earn golden whistles: Jamson and De La Fuente

Both Argie Carolina De La Fuente and Englishman Hamish Jamson earned their Golden Whistles for umpiring 100 international matches at the recently concluded EuroHockey Nations Championship in Amsterdam.

Carolina has had an amazing career so far, including umpiring at both the Athens and Beijing Olympics (the latter of which saw her umpire the Gold Medal game), two World Cups and three Champions Trophies. Hamish has umpired at two European Cups, two World Cups, three World Cups, and started out at the Junior World Cup in 1997.

Congratulations to both of you!

kookaburra Rob Hammond sounds off on the new rules: gryphon-life.com

Top Aussie international Rob Hammond shares his thoughts on the new rules from a player's viewpoint. He focuses on how the rule prohibiting hitting the ball directly into the circle from within the 23m has provided a different set of options which neither promote or discourage circle penetrations.

"One point that is valuable with the new rule is that it forces you change the point of attack from where the free hit originates, which means that by the time the ball enters the circle the opposition defence is usually shifting or sliding as well, so they are not settled, balanced and have to re-adjust their marking, tackling and interception lines. With the traditional rule teams would set up a mini wall 5 metres from the free-hit, and have their centre half and spare fullback/sweeper just behind this wall protecting the direct line to goal, which meant any balls into this area were generally intercepted. All in all the opportunity to win PC’s and generate goal scoring opportunities is roughly the same, but we’re seeing a much more clever twist to the players skills in doing so."

Some really insightful comments from a top player, which can help us as umpires understand how the teams are dealing with the transition and how we need to adapt some of our techniques and strategies to map to these changes.

Read the full article here.

belgium hockey article on Céline Martin-Schmetz

With the help of Google Language Tools or your own friendly neighbourhood translator web service, you too can enjoy this article from Belgium Hockey about my Roman roommate and new friend for life, Céline Schmetz.

Jean Duncan's golden whistle

Scottish umpire and all-around wonderful gal Jean Duncan was awarded her Golden Whistle at the Africa Cup of Nations. Congrats Jean, 100 international matches is an amazing achievement!

"am I really here?": Amy Hassick writes for usfha

My good friend Amy Hassick offers her thoughts on the eve of the BDO Junior World Cup in her hometown, Boston, MA in this terrific article on usfieldhockey.com. My favorite part is her story about falling during her first international match in Santiago - because I was that supportive colleague on the other side of the pitch! Go Amy!

USA Field Hockey Umpiring - Am I Really Here?.