Central Coast umpire on the national stage
The Central Coast AFL community is celebrating the success of Joshua Duffy Sykes from Saratoga, who was recently selected to umpire at the School Sport Australia AFL national carnival being held in Adelaide.
Josh is in Year 11 at St Edwards Christian College on the Central Coast and has had a busy year with his umpiring.
Josh is part of the Northern Regional Junior Umpiring Squad, a program for talented junior umpires that involves specialist training sessions and coaching at representative carnivals to further develop umpiring skills and knowledge.
Through Josh’s commitment and dedication to umpiring, he has also progressed into the NSW/ACT Umpiring Development Academy where he participated in the JOSS Under 13 State Zone Trials in Albury last October, and in the Combined High Schools Under 15’s State Carnival held in Wollongong in May this year.
Through consistent umpiring performances Josh was then selected to represent NSW as the umpire at the School Sport Australia National carnival In Adelaide.
Josh has had an excellent year also at the local level regularly umpiring Under 16’s matches in the GSJ Central Coast competition, while also debuting in the Under 18’s competition of the Black Diamond AFL and then recently making his Premier Division debut.
While Josh has been provided with many opportunities in umpiring so far he is also helping support the next crop of umpiring talent through coaching the Central Coast junior umpires each week.
