Turn Around of Officials Numbers in Region 5 on Eyre Peninsula
Despite their initial hesitation, Kym Shepherd and Andy Hutton decided to pursue together the responsibility of promoting and accrediting officials in the sport of lawn bowls on Eyre Peninsula. Motivated by the absence of any local official presenters and assessors, they agreed in mid-2023 to fill this gap.
Firstly, they underwent training with Bowls Australia and with Bowls SA in Adelaide under the tuition of Bob Carlson from Melbourne and then successfully completed their accreditation at a course in Tumby Bay with Bowls SA State Officiating Committee members Sandy Wallace and Joan Prosser.
Seeking advice and support along the way from Presenter & Assessor and Officials Committee member Ian Graetz from Tanunda and also from Denise Rehn from Cowell, a past Presenter & Assessor, has been invaluable.
Running the Courses as a Team Across Three Associations
Kym is a member of Eastern Eyre and Andy of the Southern Eyre Peninsula Bowling Associations. Their courses have also included candidates from the Western Eyre Men’s & Women’s Bowling Associations.
Their most recent course was accrediting four umpiring candidates from Whyalla in Region 3.
They’ve undertaken to run officials’ courses together with Kym as the facilitator, handling pre and post course emails and phone calls, and with Andy helping to present on course day. They’ve known each other for years and enjoy good communication. They are also familiar with the majority of the candidates.
This season the officials’ courses ran from early September until November. 10 days’ worth of courses for 49 candidates and 2 people for a refresher, so 51 in all.
Volunteering To Make A Difference
Andy and Kym bring different styles and strengths to the sessions.
In Kym’s own words “we are nothing special and we’re careful in letting the candidates know at the beginning of each course we are volunteers helping them to be accredited or re-accredited and in no way setting ourselves up to be an authority on the Law book. It’s more about encouraging candidates to go through the steps and all look up answers to bowls umpire questions as they arise”
Kym also said “I’m encouraged to see people seeking to become officials to put back into their sport. Both Andy and I are of the same opinion wanting to turn out good umpires, not just umpires deemed competent; we prefer them to be really good at it and also enjoy it.”
“So it’s about enjoying being an official, displaying the right attitude to players and being the best at it they can be”
Andy is keen to get the message out for officials to take responsibility for knowing when they themselves need to be re-accredited. It’s important for individuals to stay informed about their accreditation status and to be committed.
Circumstance has caused most courses to lose one or two candidates prior to a session, often at the last minute. Whilst always a little disappointing, it’s the nature of some to not feel confident. Hopefully these people can reconsider over time and come to see what can be achieved.
Running the re-accreditation sessions have been beneficial to Andy and Kym as they listen to the candidates talk through, where they’ve either excelled or might have struggled. As a group they all learn and benefit from talking about shared experiences.
Building a Picture of Officials on the Eyre Peninsula
There are very faithful people with various officiating skills who have been umpires for decades. The passage of time has limited their physical abilities, but collectively these experienced individuals are precious to the bowls community. Andy and Kym are encouraging new umpires to get alongside these people and learn skills from them.
This year’s courses have been spread out geographically, but plans going forward are to more often hold courses in Andy and Kym’s own clubs of Tumby Bay and Port Neill. Kym said, “We were not confident about logistics leading up to our first year as Presenters. We are more sure about how next year’s courses will be planned”
Supportive and Understanding Candidates
Despite facing challenges, Kym and Andy are impressed by the support shown by candidates and clubs. Individuals from the Eyre Peninsula are generous people and a pleasure to evaluate.
Wudinna’s Leon Fisher, himself a past Presenter & Assessor, kindly gave up two days to assist with a small but significant role on each day as well as being the local logistics person.
The first year involved extensive travel, including two 400km round trips to Wudinna. While a big task, Kym and Andy have received positive feedback for their efforts.
They both look forward to the challenges of a new crop of candidates next year and encourage anyone thinking of taking on a Presenter & Assessor role to come to know it can be a rewarding path.
