Competitions in regional Victoria can sometimes find umpire recruitment and retention a challenge, but there’s one association that has completely revitalised their umpiring program. After a restructure in 2022, North Central Netball Association (NCNA) shifted their focus to umpire development, and has now produced 24 new C-badges in just two years.
It’s a feat that may seem unattainable for some associations, but NCNA’s simple methods are ones any club can take lessons from. Nicole Amos is the Umpire Coordinator at NCNA and has led the boom in umpire numbers.
“The vision was to become self-sufficient. Never in a million years did I think it was going to explode and become as successful as it has been,” Nicole said.
Nicole credits her association’s success to a number of things, including the work of the umpire coordinator that came before her, the persistence and drive of the association, and support from Netball Victoria.
“We did get some sponsorship which we put towards hosting some ‘WorkSafe Umpires in the Field’ workshops last year including an 'Intro to Umpiring' session and a 'mentor' session through Netball Victoria,” she said.
“And that sort of really ignited for a lot of young ones to think: ‘hang on, I can do this’. It became bigger than I thought it would be.”
Increasing the number of umpire testers to one B-endorsed and three C-endorsed testers means they can service more umpires than ever.
“It's literally just grown from there. The mentors on our panel – which started off with four of them, grew to five, and now to seven this year – they're also going out mentoring at different clubs and it's all volunteer based.”
It’s an ecosystem that means local umpires continue to receive mentorship, gain more exciting opportunities and share their knowledge with the next generation coming through. Additionally, well-stocked clubs can avoid overloading their umpires by rotating them each week, and the extensive numbers means NCNA can promote the umpires to other leagues during finals time.
Nicole’s advice to other associations wanting to grow their number of umpires is simple.
“Communication, I think that's our key,” she said.
“We talked to the umpires within our league and asked them what they wanted to do, how much commitment they have and had a couple of conversations with Netball Victoria.”
The association figured out what it needed, and had Nicole as the dedicated umpire coordinator steering the ship, though she admits she had plenty to learn.
“I'm not an umpire, I've never umpired the game before, but I can certainly tell people where they need to be and organise them where they need to go,” she said.
Her dedicated role means that she’s been able to fully immerse herself into the umpiring world, without juggling other duties, as netball volunteers so often do.
“For an association to appoint an umpire coordinator, where they can have that hyper-focus for two years, has just made the world of difference,” she said.
Find out more about how Netball Victoria can help your association develop umpires.
Your region manager is ‘here if you need’, or you can explore Netball Victoria’s newest offering, Netball Assist – providing a range of flexible administrative services designed to support our affiliated associations and clubs.
