Overview of Umpires Training
Over the years, the methods of instruction and format of qualifying examinations has changed quite considerably. As most of you will know Ted Childs was our Chief Training Officer and indeed, the Regional Training Officer for many years and as a visual aid to instructing, he and other instructors had to make do with an overhead projector and homemade transparencies. Clearly, this was not entirely satisfactory as the quality of the transparencies was dependant upon the skill of whoever prepared then, and it led to what today would probably be considered an undue emphasis on reading from “Tom Smith”. However, Ted seems to have managed. Many are those who have passed through his tender care and gone on to become very competent umpires.
This, in fact, was still the situation when, in about 1996, Ted asked me to become an assistant to him in Norwich. I think it was because I didn’t say no as convincingly as any others he may have asked that he homed in on me! About four years later, which coincided with the 2000 rewrite of the Laws, there became available from ACU&S a set of transparencies which we bought. This proved to be a significant improvement on what had gone before in terms of visual aids and we are able to talk more from what was on the screen with a little less reading directly from the book. In 2004, there was an even more significant improvement in visual aids with the advent of a DVD from ACU&S giving a Powerpoint presentation on the Laws of the Game. Of course, this would have been useless without a computer and projector but the Norfolk Cricket Board came up with the funds to purchase these items. The DVD covers all the Laws in words and pictures and also some animated demonstrations showing certain aspects of some of the Laws. This obviously makes it more interesting for the students and consequently holds their attention much better.
There are to be major changes to the way the course is presented from next year. The ECB are working on a course which, in addition to teaching the Laws, places a much greater emphasis on the psychological and mental aspects than ever before. The course is to meet the standards set by an organization known as Sports Officials UK (SOUK). This body sets standards for the training of officials in a number of sports other than cricket and tutors for courses have to be accredited in order to be able to present a course. This involves attending a comprehensive seminar and I am waiting to hear more about this.
The form of the examinations has also changed markedly in recent years. Many of you will remember the old style written exam which involved writing answers to up to 36 questions and it always seemed to be a race against the clock, an aspect that came in for a lot of criticism. It was quite possible to fail the exam through lack of time rather than a lack of knowledge, a point I made to the “Norfolk Umpire” in a letter to the editor some years ago.
This single written exam was replaced in the mid nineties bay a Part One and a Part Two exam. The Part One syllabus, which covered only some of the laws, was designed to introduce candidates who had not taken exams for some time rather gently into doing so again and also for those who were perhaps wanting some kind of qualification for umpiring for their local club. For those who wished to become fully qualified, it was necessary to take Part Two exam. This was then followed by an oral exam and then an on field assessment by two referees in order to become fully qualified by the ACU&S. In 2005, ACU&S replaced the written exam with a multiple choice format using a Powerpoint presentation and we went with this in 2005 and 2006.
Last year, we held the new ECB exam which consisted of multiple choice and multiple selection questions and also an oral exam on four of the most important laws. This is a somewhat more demanding exam than the ACU&S multiple choice but it does cut out the need for a separate oral exam. With the demise of ACU&S we are now fully committed to ECB qualifications and it now remains to be seen what form the examination will take after the introduction of the new SOUK accredited course.
Finally, don’t forget that existing members are very welcome to come along to the course for a refresher. No charge! separate oral exam. With the demise of ACU&S we are now fully committed to ECB qualifications and it now remains to be seen what form the examination will take after the introduction of the new SOUK accredited course.
Finally, don’t forget that existing members are very welcome to come along to the course for a refresher. No charge!
Contact details
Ken Ellis
Tele 01603 891384