The East's Exemplary Umpire Mentoring Scheme
The East Region has been running a very successful umpire mentoring scheme at all levels of umpiring from the Beginner award to the A award for over five years. The Region has a Lead Mentor, Yvonne Adshead, who works closely with each County via the County Lead Mentors.
Below, Yvonne explains how the East's Umpire Mentoring scheme works;
We support our A awards and those looking to progress to the A Award via our close liaison with the Hertfordshire Mavericks franchise, providing umpires and mentors at all NSL and NTL training sessions and NTL fixtures. The umpires identified for the NSL training and fixtures are selected via recommendations from the County Lead mentors and the TID scheme which we operate each year at the Regional Round of the National Schools. Mentor support is also provided by the regional mentors for those who are undertaking their A written award. Close liaison takes place with Carolyn Davies, who allocates the umpires to the Regional League fixtures, to ensure that the umpires are allocated to suitable games that will enhance their development on their umpiring journey. Umpires are also nominated from this group to be included in the National Premier League Division 3.
Those umpires who are not A awards, or are not part of the Talent Identified group are supported via their County set-up, which takes a variety of formats to accommodate the differing needs of each County.
Currently we have 88 accredited mentors across the Region. Each mentor has to attend a two hour workshop to learn the key skills and requirements of becoming an umpire mentor and then they undergo a practical assessment where they are observed mentoring an umpire on a least two occasions to ensure we have quality mentors, giving up-to-date and appropriate advice. We are just embarking on our first re-accreditation process as all mentors have to be reaccredited every four years to quality assure the service we provide.
Since its inception what have been the key achievements?
We now have a Talent Identification system which ensures equality of opportunity and clearer pathways for umpire development
More opportunities for our umpires to be exposed to matches that are appropriate to their level of umpiring
A significant increase in the number of umpires offering their services for the Regional League and Regional Round of the National Schools
A higher percentage successful test results achieved at all levels on the first occasion
As a region our umpiring mentor scheme has been highly praised nationally and will form a significant part of the basis of the EN National Umpire Mentor Scheme. It is been used at B to A award level in the London and South East Region and is widely used across Hampshire County, following training received by our Regional Tutors.
Such schemes cannot operate so successfully without the wonderful support of the volunteer mentors across our Region. From the many positive comments received from within the region and the people outside of the region who have heard about what we offer, the umpires in the East benefit massively and we are the envy of many other Counties and Regions both in the way we support our umpires and in the fantastic numbers we have prepared to come forward to train and work as mentors.