One umpire coach on shaping next gen

By Linda Pearce
 
If it’s a truism of sport that there’s no game without the umpires, it’s also a frustration for the nation’s most senior officiating figure to keep hearing those words without commensurate action.
 
According to Sharon Kelly OAM, Netball Australia’s Head Coach, Performance Umpiring, what’s needed is not throwaway lines and motherhood statements but more support and encouragement.
 
“Yes, umpires are going to make mistakes,’’ says Kelly, a 14-time Australian Umpire of the Year.

“Players make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes. That is human nature. That is sport and that’s I think why we always get so passionate about it.
 
“But it’s important to actually support the people in what they’re doing and give them recognition for the good things that they do, and not only criticise them for the one-off mistakes they might make.’’
 
For the umpires, in turn, it’s about understanding and accepting that errors will come and learning from them.

“So once you realise that ‘yes, I have made a mistake, why did I make that mistake and what can I do better not to make that same mistake next time?’.’’
 
A former Netball NSW umpire coach, Kelly has been in the national role for almost three years, having hung up her own whistle following Sydney’s hosting of the 2015 Netball World Cup and a celebrated career spanning over 100 Tests and countless national league finals.

These days, there are  around 16 umpires on NA’s annual contract list, and the latest movement through the ranks includes four who have received the International Umpire Award - plus one talent ID’d - in the past 12 months as well as three more tested successfully for their All Australia badges.
 
Yet recruiting is no easy task, understandably, given the often thankless nature of the role.
 
“It’s not the glamour part of the sport,’’ Kelly says.

“So we try to promote all the life skills you can get through officiating and ensure that we put good people and programs around them, strong mentoring and strong feedback and show them a pathway to be able to go further.’’
 
Kelly has previously cited World Netball research that provides additional insight into the match-day demands, with around 25-30,000 decisions made across the four quarters.
 
That includes not just when the whistle is blown, of course, but when it isn’t. 
 
“Every single movement of every player has to have a decision made as to whether it interferes, was it legal, where were they when they caught the ball, was their foot already landed, which was their landed foot, where can the player defend from, assessing your three seconds,’’ Kelly says. 
 
“So all that decision-making, it’s pretty high intensity for that 60 minutes.’’

Netball Australia’s own data is increasingly being used to support development and lift standards, through performance analysis tools introduced in 2023 and broadened in this year’s Suncorp Super Netball.
 
Calls that might have been missed are now being flagged with the help of player/fan/commentary reaction, and statistics used to inform particular areas from far-side vision to the three-second rule and identify patterns of decision-making, including during Super Shot periods when so much changes, and not just for the players.
 
To augment video reviews, games are coded within 24 hours and umpires receive a weekly report listing each decision with an accompanying time stamp.
 
Along with greater accountability can come vindication, but Kelly stresses that performance analysis should be used judiciously, and not as part of a blame game that can erode confidence and lead to second-guessing. 
 
“You can’t go in and use it just to destroy yourself,’’ she says.

“So you need to go in with ‘what are the things that I’m going to take away from this to improve next week’, and not make it undo all of your techniques and your ability.’’
 
To help with relationship-building and information-sharing, Kelly would like club training sessions to become more accessible to umpires who, by necessity, all have non-netball careers that complicate collaboration during the office hours in which increasingly professional teams prepare.
 
That professionalism, in turn, contributes to a faster game played by more skillful and stronger-bodied athletes, yet the idea of full-time umpires in a season lasting just 17 weeks is problematic, at least for now. 

Especially when airfares, accommodation and meals are covered for international series but there are no retainers or match fees - a situation that Kelly would like to see change, as umpires often have to use their annual leave or take time off without pay.
 
So if more money would be welcome, then what of more umpires? Three per game, for example? Kelly supports the current system and court division into halves across the centre circle rather than any other permutation.
 
“I think no matter which way you divide it you’re going to have what people perceive to be the same problem: there’s always going to be an area that’s further away than the one on the sideline that you’re on.’’
 
While predicting that a video review system could be considered eventually, Kelly suggests assessing whether the significant investment is worth the number of challenges likely to be involved, and the risk of interrupting the flow and speed of games.
 
As for the rule changes introduced for 2024, Kelly is a fan of the players being permitted to ask for a centre pass check, as she is of ditching the system of cautions that she believes had become “a little bit of white noise”  to players, given anecdotal evidence that advancing penalties has led to more adjustments in behaviour.
 
The re-tweaked (again) short pass rule is an improvement, Kelly believes, so any nostalgia about the end of the toss-up?
 
“It was sad to see it go, but I do understand why and I think it probably would affect grassroots level more than our top level, because as umpires get better they get better at making decisions.’’
 
She misses being on court, Kelly admits - “if we could all stay young, then we’d all stay on there, wouldn’t we?’’ - while happy to share her knowledge and experience with those coming through.

 Personal highlights include her “pretty scary” first senior international; a trans-Tasman Test in Auckland in 1998 which would not occur today, as all officials are chosen from non-competing countries.
 
Not forgetting that precious fourth and last Netball World Cup, Kelly’s first at home.
 
Talking to young umpires about the, ahem, olden days, they find it hard to believe that calling play for a throw-in used to be a thing, as was blowing the whistle to signal a goal.
 
In the same week that experienced Englishman Gary Burgess wrote on X while flying between Constellation Cup fixtures - and catch-ups with dear friends made through the sport - that his is “the best ‘job’ in the world!!!", Kelly offers her own sales pitch to those considering joining the whistleblowers’ ranks.
 
The opportunities that can come from working hard at your craft and the challenge to become better.
 
The many doors that will open. The travel, both domestic and international. 
 
Life skills and personal development, such as decision-making, accountability, self-assessment, fitness of both body and mind, conflict resolution and communication skills.
 
The umpiring support network and relationships forged around the world.
 
No mistaking the benefits of any of that.