Where to find invitations for umpires?

Discussion in 'Rules / Tournament Regulation / Officiating' started by phihag, Mar 3, 2015.

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  1. phihag

    phihag Regular Member

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    As a new umpire, I'd like to improve my umpiring skills. When I asked experienced umpires what to do apart from reviewing rules, reading the news of the various umpire organizations, and discussing corner cases, I've always heard that I should try to umpire as many games as possible. And apart from that whole justification, umpiring is just fun!

    I've applied for all the tournaments my local Badminton association organizes, and those my umpiring friends invited me to, but since I am not yet qualified for higher levels of tournaments yet, that's less than ten tournaments per year.

    Is there any way to find umpiring opportunities? I've heard that some tournaments (for example sponsored ones or Para Badminton) are actively seeking umpires, but apart from being asked by a fellow umpire directly, I cannot find a centralized database. Where can I find requests for umpires, apart from in this very forum?
     
  2. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    To get your umpiring certificate, did you go through the national association? Surely, they have a list of all the local tournaments they approve - it might not be as an umpire for the high level but extra things like tournament assistant and linesman.

    Other than that, then your state or local district association might be the ones to provide help. I can't see how there can be so few tournaments for a entry level umpire.

    I doubt that there is a centralised database but happy to be proven wrong. Most national associations don't have a big enough staff to maintain such a database.

    To be honest, if you are just looking for matches, there must be a number of local competitions. I'd go for the finals and keep a track of the hours in a logbook.
     
  3. phihag

    phihag Regular Member

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    First of all, thank you very much for answering! I was worrying that nobody might be interested in such an excentric request.

    In my region in Germany (NRW), the regional association handles umpire certifications. They do indeed publish a list of a official tournaments (and I've asked for all of them). They also have a list of approved tournaments, but those are low-level (i.e. below regional) and don't include umpires. Sometimes, a player may request an umpire and then the tournament organizers ask whether one is present, but that's quite rare - so far, it happened to me once in about 30 tournaments.

    Of course, there are plenty of official league games, but to umpire those, I'll need to pass the national-level umpire qualification, and I'm only allowed that once I have sufficient experience (3 years), which is what I want in the first place!

    Unfortunately, our local competitions are run without any umpires at all, so I can't really apply there. Since I am trying to get better at umpiring, I'm not sure how being a line judge or tournament organizer would help; but of course I'm doing that as well.
     
  4. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Just volunteer at the low level tournaments. Don't wait to get asked. Concentrate mainly on the final matches for best use of your time. You can do the earlier rounds of you want. It doesn't matter if you the only umpire there! I would think many players would love to have an umpire around.

    Make sure the time used is accreditation by the appropriate people for maintaining the number of hours umpiring.
     
  5. CantSmashThis

    CantSmashThis Regular Member

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    Things over there are probably different from things over here. But to be honest, there aren't all that many opportunities in a given year until you rise up the ranks. Over here, there are a lot of junior tournaments that need umpires, so we can do those. Otherwise, tournaments outside our immediate region, requires an invite from our national association where they would reimburse flight costs and pay for a hotel. Usually at most 2-3 national level tournaments a year. For starting off, depending how many umpires there are in the country, and how much budget they have, the numbers of course vary. Find out who's in charge of those appointments and show to them that you are capable and deserve a shot at a bigger tournament. Over here, age matters a bit as well, because they want to give the younger ones more of a shot as they have a chance at a longer career. (45 is the maximum age to be evaluated for BWF level, 55 being the maximum age an umpire can be at the BWF level). I am not sure if it is the same there.

    Slowly as you move up the ranks, you may get invited to bigger tournaments for more experience and to be assessed for the next level. Then you may be invited to the International levels, and then start to possibly do exchanges (which vary by country due to funding etc.) Over in the US, we do some exchanges with European countries for the higher level officials (usually Dutch, Swiss, Bitburger Opens). However, after talking with umpires I've worked with at tournaments from Canada, don't have as much funding, so most of their umpires only do Canada Open and other national tournaments or maybe US Open tournaments. Once you reach Continental Accreditation level, you can reach out to the person in charge of appointments, or if you have connections in other countries, ask to be invited to umpire at their Opens. (Usually in that case, you are covering your own flight, but the tournament will cover other accommodations).

    Levels are different per country. I've met many international umpires who have been doing it for many years before they got to eventually move up the ladder. Some smaller countries tend to move their officials up the ladder faster, and some countries like to take their time to develop their officials more.
     
  6. pcll99

    pcll99 Regular Member

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    Excellent post!!! Sticky material!!!
     

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