Oceania Hockey Federation has been proud of the high calibre of their officials over many years. While we appreciate the opportunities offered to our elite panel officials, especially over the last two years, Oceania Officiating Committee, together with the OHF Board, are aware and concerned about the lack of opportunities for development for those progressing through the levels. These officials have been significantly impacted over the last two years, with travel restrictions that have reduced their opportunities, both within Oceania and outside the continent.

Consequently, the OHF Officiating Committee has been proactive in setting up a new program named Oceania Officials Development Program (OODP) which has a vision to identify, develop, and grow Oceania’s Hockey Umpires and Officials to be the best in the world.

The Key Pillars to achieving success are:

• Utilising globally recognized mentors and educators
• Learning and sharing knowledge
• Promoting self-motivated individuals
• The use of the latest coaching and match review technology
• Participant experience

The OODP will have a staged approach over four years:

• Umpire Development Program (UDP) commencing in 2023 (2-year duration)
• International Umpire Mentor Program (IUMP) will commence in 2024
• Officials Development Program (ODP) will commence in 2024 (2-year duration)
• Umpire Manager Development Program (UMDP) commencing in 2025.

Speaking of the launch of the new initiative OHF President Claire Prideaux said “We are delighted to get this important project off the ground to build the future generations of officials from within the Oceania Hockey Federation. I am particularly keen to see how we will be able to use our extensive experience to build our future officials across our Pacific nations.”

The OODP will be managed by a sub-committee of the Oceania Officiating Committee that has been sanctioned by the OHF Board. This sub-group will report to the Officiating Committee on a regular basis. It is important to clarify that the NAs will still be responsible for their pathways and the nominating appointment processes will be from the NAs to the Officiating Committee and through to FIH via our appointed representative, Gavin Hawke.  The OODP is designed to complement and enhance the NA Officials pathways.

The program will commence in 2023 with the appointment of the mentors already completed. The first program will be the Umpire Development Program (UDP). The Oceania UDP is a high-performance umpiring program to grow and develop the performance of young and talented umpires who have the potential to become international umpires

This program will see approx. 24 men and women across the region go through a selection process this year for the 12 places (6 men & 6 women) to be appointed to the program at the end of October 2022. Each NA will be responsible for nominating the umpires for the selection process. The participants on the program will then select their mentor from the panel and the two-year cycle of mentoring, on field coaching and workshops will commence. The second program for Officials and active International Umpires will commence in 2024. A special program for Umpire Managers will kick off in 2025. An important component of the program will be for the participants to also mentor officials back in their regions and from member nations from the South Pacific.

Jason McCracken, Chair of the OODP said. “It is great to see the familiar faces back helping and guiding the next wave of officials from across the region. For those of us who have been privileged to operate on the World hockey stage our hope is that we can pass on some of our experiences to benefit the next generation.”

The mentors initially appointed to program from across the region include a wealth of experience at National and International level. They include Angela Holloway, Craig Gribble, David Gentles, David Saunders, Gavin Hawke, Jason McCracken, Josh Burt, Karen Bennett, Lynn Cowie McAlister, Lyn Farrell, Lyn Hill, Minka Woolley, Paul Morrison, Peter Wright, Sarah Garnett. It is anticipated that this panel will evolve over the time as the program progresses.

The program is being funded with the support from Hockey Australia, Hockey New Zealand and the Oceania Hockey Federation. The program has also been sanctioned by the FIH Officials Committee to ensure that the participants have a pathway into future international events.