Development Panel @ Cardiff Met Invitational Tournament
After attending the Cardiff Met U18s Girls’ invitational tournament last September, the Development Panel were invited back to Cyncoed for the Boys’ event. The tournament took place over a Saturday and Sunday, with pool matches followed by classification games that concluded the weekend. The boys undertook sessions of performance analysis, strength and conditioning and more behind the scenes work between matches, exhibiting what Cardiff Met has to offer for budding sportspeople.
The panel arrived in Cardiff on the Friday night, incorporating thorough preparations for the weekend ahead. A pre-tournament briefing and (of course) a meal together was used to emulate what can be expected from tournament hockey when part of the third team. After a good night’s rest, we then set off for the first day of matches. A cold, Cyncoed campus resulted in a wintry pitch, however this was soon cleared and everyone was keen to get going. The development panel umpired with a mixture of peers and mentors on the Saturday, bedding into the tournament and picking up valuable feedback via debriefs from the Umpire Managers. After a successful first day, the team warmed themselves up, before some bonding time over bountiful amounts of pasta and food (All about that carb-loading). |
The Sunday continued in the weekend’s frosty fashion, although the welcome appearance of the sun made it seem, at least, a little warmer. The team took what they had learnt from Saturday’s debriefs and put it into further improving their performance as the boys moved into the classification games in the afternoon. Spirits remained high throughout the day, with everyone enjoying themselves, whilst on or off the pitch. The feedback throughout the day, again, was massively appreciated by all of the panel. Essentially, it was great to see improvements on key focuses throughout the weekend and further points that could be taken away as we approach the second half of the season.
Despite the shivery conditions, the team ended the tournament warmed with team work, with everyone doing all they could to support each other over the weekend. All came away with priceless feedback and extra experience in the bag, setting up the second half of the season perfectly as an opportunity to develop further. A huge thank you to everyone who organised and made the weekend run so smoothly, it was fantastic to be a part of. WHUA would like to thank Luke Hawker and his team at Cardiff Met for the invite and the hospitality at the event, and look forward to working together in the future. The next meeting of the WHUA Development Panel will be in Newtown for this summers Youth Finals. If there are any aspiring young umpires out there who wish to get involved with the development group then please get in touch with the WHUA via our contacts page. |