2011 Umpiring Conference

The 2011 AFL Umpire Coach Professional Development Program (PDP) National Conference was held in Melbourne from Friday 28th till Sunday 30th January.

The conference ran concurrently with the National Coaching Conference at Ethihad Stadium, with over 600 Football and Umpire coaches attending.

Twenty-five umpire coaches from NSW and the ACT attended the conference as part of their development and to help them gain new ideas for the upcoming season.
 
The conference opened on Friday night with key note speeches from Brad Scott, head coach of the North Melbourne Kangaroos, and Ric Charlesworth, the current head coach of the Australian Men’s hockey team.

Both coaches provided valuable insights into their coaching pathways, along with the importance they place on their club culture.

Brad Scott highlighted to coaches keep it simple, you can’t control everything and to never stop trying to find a better way.

While Ric Charlesworth highlighted the importance of training being the source of good habits, and also made the point that most people don’t realise how good they can be, and that the coach needs to inspire and assist athletes to reach their true potential.

The conference continued on the Saturday with Umpiring specific breakout sessions discussing different topics from the use of technology, training programs, involving indigenous and other cultures, and sharing the workload, while also participating in breakout sessions with the football coaches throughout the day.

Their was also two more key note speeches from David Buttifant the Sports Science Director at the Collingwood Football Club, who spoke about managing a team for high performance.

While Peter Schwab, the AFL’s Director of Coaching spoke of coaching being the key to shaping culture. Saturday night all coaches came together for the conference dinner with entertainment provided by Greg Champion, before resuming for the final few sessions on the Sunday.

The Sunday sessions included umpiring discussion topics on variety at coaching and training sessions, and assessing umpires, while also participating in some break out sessions with the football coaches.

One of the highlights of the Sunday sessions included a workshop involving football coaches and umpire coaches discussing together how they could build better clubs and improve the match day environment.

The coaches discussed ideas, while also sharing local experiences and concluded the session by taking an idea back to their local club or league to implement.

The conference concluded with a discussion panel including David Parkin, Scott Clayton, Andrew McKay and Brian Cook discussing where the game has come from and where it is headed in the coming years.

Umpire Development Officer Carl Fletcher said, “The conference provided a fantastic opportunity for the entire football community to come together and share knowledge. The umpire coaches who attended this conference have taken away new ideas that will help them back in their local umpiring group, and their local competition.”