By JARROD POTTER
TRAGEDY sometimes has a silver lining, as Narre Warren North field hockey umpire Josh Hall discovered when a mishap forced him towards his true passion.
After a severely broken arm restricted Hall’s ability to play field hockey, the 15-year-old made the switch from the hockey stick to the referee’s whistle as a way to continue his involvement in the sport.
“2011 I broke my arm on a school camp and had to miss the rest of the season,” Hall said.
“I really wanted to play and be involved, but couldn’t really do anything, so I decided to take up umpiring once I could run again.
“I didn’t want to go and watch my team play, as I couldn’t participate, so I had to think of another way to be involved with the sport and not play it – so the best way to do that was to officiate.”
From junior matches rising up to senior men’s and women’s clashes and now into the national umpiring landscape and the Hockey Victoria Umpiring Academy, Hall’s rapidly risen through the ranks and is ready to keep pushing upwards towards the peak of world hockey umpiring.
He’s packed up the fluoro polo and his whistle and headed across to Perth for the under-12 Hockey Australia National Championships running this week.
While it’s a return to the bottom age group for his umpiring, Hall knows it’s necessary, as the opportunity to rise through the national ranks and being recognised as one of the best junior umpires in the country has boosted his confidence dramatically.
“It felt good to know that my umpiring has got me somewhere – not just a Saturday afternoon men’s game – and I’m still progressing up,” Hall said.
While he did eventually return to the field to play, as he is a junior with the Casey Cannons and senior at Knox Hockey Club, he has put his own game on the back-burner to pursue his officiating more seriously.
“I think I’ll always be an umpire first, as having so many half seasons or seasons out of hockey, my playing ability is not as good as it could be but my umpiring … comes first, really, as I’m a lot better at it,” Hall said.
“I still play now, but I don’t play in a really high league.
“That’s good because it’s the second best men’s team there (Knox) and usually after the game I’ll umpire the senior men’s game and everyone knows me, so they can’t really mouth off at me.”
“In the long run I actually want to umpire the Commonwealth Games, or the World Cup or the Olympic Games in 2020 which is my goal to get to.”
The championships are currently underway from 3 to 7 August.
Hall wanted to thank his family for their support.
if anyone else is interested in sponsoring Hall and his future umpiring ambitions, contact his mother Debbie at tigesrus@bigpond.net.au
