Madi Baxter - C Award working towards B Award
I would say I am a junior umpire with a fair amount of experience although I am only young. I currently am a C award umpire who umpires county, regional and senior’s games. As I am working towards my B award with only the practical section left to complete, I am beginning to get greater exposure and practice with the higher-level regional games such as Champs. I have also helped umpire at a number of county play days and matches for thunder pathway.
What got you into Umpiring in the first instance?
I was helping to coach at some younger age groups’ training sessions. As they began match play for the first time, I was learning the rules with them as I began to umpire their match play. I began with the basic rules such as footwork and replay – being able to identify them, call the decision and set the free pass. Once I was confident with those, I would add more complex rules on top as they also got more confident and advanced in match play. I got lots of advice from current, active umpires along the way.
Why do you enjoy your role within netball umpiring?
I love netball and getting involved in any way I can. As a player myself, I find it helpful knowing the rules well and being able to apply them tactically into my game. I also think that umpiring is a great skill to have as everyone across the country is always looking for umpires of varying levels to cover matches and leagues.
What would your one piece of advice to someone who was thinking about starting umpiring?
I would say to go for it! Download the rules app and start reading them and familiarising yourself with the rules until you feel confident. My best piece of advice would be that if it involves 1 person, it is a free pass, if it involves 2 or more (the post counts as a person), it is a penalty pass. Then it is about getting lots and lots of practice and applying the rules to real-life scenarios. Get started in training matches and then gradually progress to county league games – taking advice from others along the way to help you improve.
What got you into Umpiring in the first instance?
I was helping to coach at some younger age groups’ training sessions. As they began match play for the first time, I was learning the rules with them as I began to umpire their match play. I began with the basic rules such as footwork and replay – being able to identify them, call the decision and set the free pass. Once I was confident with those, I would add more complex rules on top as they also got more confident and advanced in match play. I got lots of advice from current, active umpires along the way.
Why do you enjoy your role within netball umpiring?
I love netball and getting involved in any way I can. As a player myself, I find it helpful knowing the rules well and being able to apply them tactically into my game. I also think that umpiring is a great skill to have as everyone across the country is always looking for umpires of varying levels to cover matches and leagues.
What would your one piece of advice to someone who was thinking about starting umpiring?
I would say to go for it! Download the rules app and start reading them and familiarising yourself with the rules until you feel confident. My best piece of advice would be that if it involves 1 person, it is a free pass, if it involves 2 or more (the post counts as a person), it is a penalty pass. Then it is about getting lots and lots of practice and applying the rules to real-life scenarios. Get started in training matches and then gradually progress to county league games – taking advice from others along the way to help you improve.
