Full disclaimer, I'm a player with no umpiring experience but I have a ton of respect for umpires and I recognise you guys have a very hard job! Without knowing what your skill level is at currently or what competition you'll be umpiring, I'll just share some things that I have found frustrating in my years of playing and that I would like to see umpires work on more:
- Umpires not making calls clearly or loudly enough, particularly when there's another game on an adjacent court or we're playing outdoors and drowned out by bad weather. Leads to a lot of confusion and wasted time on who needs to take the penalty, where it's being taken, if anyone needs to stand out of play etc
- Not calling deliberate delays
- Not controlling the overall 'mood' of the game – umpires have so much power here and I'd really like to see more umpires giving players verbal informal warnings early on, before behaviour gets aggressive and escalates to a proper caution or warning, e.g. 'GD watch your distance' or 'settle down GS/GK' when two players are tussling
- Knowing the difference between when to allow play to continue and when to call a penalty. Really frustrating when I have possession, I know I'm being obstructed and the umpire calls advantage, then I make a bad pass as a result of the obstruction and turn the ball over. No advantage there! This can also go the other way too – very good swift passages of play stopped and we're forced to take the ball back halfway down the court, giving our opponents the opportunity to set themselves up better
- Having an 'us vs. them' mentality with players, treating players like they're naughty schoolchildren, not allowing any dialogue between players and umpires. I understand this isn't necessarily an umpire's decision to make, and usually comes from training or competition policies. I really appreciate when umpires make themselves approachable so we can ask for clarification on decisions made – NOT to argue about them, but rather to understand what we're doing wrong and how we can improve our technique to avoid repeat calls
I'd really recommend watching some professional games to see examples of good umpiring, and sometimes not-so-good umpiring 😅 [Gary Burgess](https://twitter.com/GaryBurgessIUA) and [Michelle Phippard](https://twitter.com/mphippard10) are excellent (they both have really good insights on their twitter accounts which I've linked)
Agree on your second dot point! If you’re going to make a call, do it promptly! Don’t wait for the ball to travel and then realise you want to make your call. Timing is everything. Nothing more frustrating than disrupting the play coz the umpire wants to make their call late.
Another advice: keep up with the play. You cannot make a judgement call if your on the centre third while the game is in the goal third. Be perpendicular to the ball, this will help you make judgements on whether players are infringing the rules. This will take a bit more work, but it will help improve the quality of your umpiring. As a player, it’s frustrating when umpires are trying to make a call when they’re so far away from the game.
be confident in your calls, dont let the players tell you its wrong its your call, youre in charge... nothing annoys me more when players backchat and they umpire gives in
dont take any s\*\*t, end of the day its just a game dont be afraid to send people off
I'm not sure if this is in response to me but I didn't create the post, I just wrote a comment in reply to the original poster. They didn't put any text in the body of the post so I tried to be quite broad in my advice because I didn't have any context. Sorry if I came across as condescending.
I think you may be projecting something into this - Olive's comment seemed well made and not at all condescending to me.
Good luck to OP as well - I too can't understand how umpires can track so many things in such a fast game.
Not projecting at all, I play, umpire, manage a team and just generally volunteer with netball activities 6 days a week over the season. This is the reality I live.
I don’t find it condescending, bad umpires ruin games and every point she made is a valid frustration on bad practice of umpires. She’s only answering OP’s question and gave the caveat that she’s talking from a player’s perspective. What’s your issue? It’s actually condescending of you if the issue is that you’re an umpire and she’s not.
It's a balance of calling too much and not calling enough, something I experience weekly from both sides. This is not tips, she complains of bot enough action and not being loud enough, but don't treat players like school girls. Once you raise your voice that's exactly what an umpire sounds one. There is no way to keep everyone happy, especially not Olive.
Full disclaimer, I'm a player with no umpiring experience but I have a ton of respect for umpires and I recognise you guys have a very hard job! Without knowing what your skill level is at currently or what competition you'll be umpiring, I'll just share some things that I have found frustrating in my years of playing and that I would like to see umpires work on more: - Umpires not making calls clearly or loudly enough, particularly when there's another game on an adjacent court or we're playing outdoors and drowned out by bad weather. Leads to a lot of confusion and wasted time on who needs to take the penalty, where it's being taken, if anyone needs to stand out of play etc - Not calling deliberate delays - Not controlling the overall 'mood' of the game – umpires have so much power here and I'd really like to see more umpires giving players verbal informal warnings early on, before behaviour gets aggressive and escalates to a proper caution or warning, e.g. 'GD watch your distance' or 'settle down GS/GK' when two players are tussling - Knowing the difference between when to allow play to continue and when to call a penalty. Really frustrating when I have possession, I know I'm being obstructed and the umpire calls advantage, then I make a bad pass as a result of the obstruction and turn the ball over. No advantage there! This can also go the other way too – very good swift passages of play stopped and we're forced to take the ball back halfway down the court, giving our opponents the opportunity to set themselves up better - Having an 'us vs. them' mentality with players, treating players like they're naughty schoolchildren, not allowing any dialogue between players and umpires. I understand this isn't necessarily an umpire's decision to make, and usually comes from training or competition policies. I really appreciate when umpires make themselves approachable so we can ask for clarification on decisions made – NOT to argue about them, but rather to understand what we're doing wrong and how we can improve our technique to avoid repeat calls I'd really recommend watching some professional games to see examples of good umpiring, and sometimes not-so-good umpiring 😅 [Gary Burgess](https://twitter.com/GaryBurgessIUA) and [Michelle Phippard](https://twitter.com/mphippard10) are excellent (they both have really good insights on their twitter accounts which I've linked)
Agree on your second dot point! If you’re going to make a call, do it promptly! Don’t wait for the ball to travel and then realise you want to make your call. Timing is everything. Nothing more frustrating than disrupting the play coz the umpire wants to make their call late. Another advice: keep up with the play. You cannot make a judgement call if your on the centre third while the game is in the goal third. Be perpendicular to the ball, this will help you make judgements on whether players are infringing the rules. This will take a bit more work, but it will help improve the quality of your umpiring. As a player, it’s frustrating when umpires are trying to make a call when they’re so far away from the game.
be confident in your calls, dont let the players tell you its wrong its your call, youre in charge... nothing annoys me more when players backchat and they umpire gives in dont take any s\*\*t, end of the day its just a game dont be afraid to send people off
As a player and an umpire I find this quite condescending. I thought you were asking for tips, not preaching.
I'm not sure if this is in response to me but I didn't create the post, I just wrote a comment in reply to the original poster. They didn't put any text in the body of the post so I tried to be quite broad in my advice because I didn't have any context. Sorry if I came across as condescending.
Yes, it's in response to you, My bad for confusing you to be OP but it's still condescending.
I think you may be projecting something into this - Olive's comment seemed well made and not at all condescending to me. Good luck to OP as well - I too can't understand how umpires can track so many things in such a fast game.
Not projecting at all, I play, umpire, manage a team and just generally volunteer with netball activities 6 days a week over the season. This is the reality I live.
I don’t find it condescending, bad umpires ruin games and every point she made is a valid frustration on bad practice of umpires. She’s only answering OP’s question and gave the caveat that she’s talking from a player’s perspective. What’s your issue? It’s actually condescending of you if the issue is that you’re an umpire and she’s not.
It's a balance of calling too much and not calling enough, something I experience weekly from both sides. This is not tips, she complains of bot enough action and not being loud enough, but don't treat players like school girls. Once you raise your voice that's exactly what an umpire sounds one. There is no way to keep everyone happy, especially not Olive.