Gary Burgess International Appointments!
Netball East Umpire Appointed to International Tri Series and World Youth Netball Championships.
Netball East is proud to announce that Gary Burgess (Bedfordshire - East) has been appointed to umpire at the World Youth Netball Championships (WYNC) in the Cook Islands.
After a successful season officiating in the Cooperative Netball Super League, adding the Grand Final to his umpiring CV and also at the Netball Europe Open Championships in Sheffield, Gary Burgess was looking forward to the customary summer off. That was until he heard of his appointment by IFNA to the World Youth Championships in the Cook Islands meaning his season was not over yet.
"My appointment to the World Youth Championships came as a complete surprise and certainly makes the last 10 years of being an umpire worth while. People often moan about there being limited or no cash incentive involved with umpiring netball but I would say hang on in there because if you stick with it an overseas appointment could well be on the cards. I will be stopping in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand for various amounts of time before I arrive in the Cook Islands and will also be visiting Hong Kong on the way home which certainly makes it all worth while".
Since being selected to the WYNC Gary has also been lucky enough to have been appointed the International Tri Series involving South Africa, Fiji and Botswana in a weeks time.
"To be asked to go to South Africa to umpire is a complete surprise. I knew that I wouldn't be able to take the customary summer off before I went to the Cook Islands but I had expected to keep my whistle in by umpiring local league! This is a great opportunity for me to put in the groundwork for this summers World Youth Championships".
Accompanying Gary to the Cook Islands will be International Umpire Judith Groves (South West – Avon) and National Performance Umpire Louise Travis (London and South East - Surrey). English Umpiring is having some what of a rebirth internationally and lets hope that umpires from the East are involved with leading the charge!
