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Home > 4th February 2008
EHF Support for Umpires

The WHU and WHUA are delighted to announce that two of their up and coming umpires, Will Drury and Laura Houlston, have been confirmed as joining the EHF Umpiring Development Programme. The commitment from all parties is high, with the two umpires themselves receiving specialist training and guidance from world- renowned umpire coaches. Both Will and Laura have made huge strides in the past 2 years and both are looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead.

 

Will Drury
Will is 24 years old and studying for a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bristol where he obtained his Masters (2001 – 2004). He started playing hockey at the age of 11 and played county hockey from under 14 to under 21 and continued to play whilst at University.  He started to umpire in 1995, at the age of 14, and took his Level One Award the same year.  At the age of 16 he was taking neutral county appointments and by the age of 17, had obtained his Level Two (regional) Award.  Will umpired at regional level for two years before being nominated, and accepted, onto the England national panel where he has umpired ever since.  Wales first exposed him to international hockey when he umpired Wales v England in June 2005 and since has umpired nine further senior inter-nations matches.  In 2006 he was appointed to the EuroHockey Clubs Champions Challenge 1 (Croatia). In 2007 Will was appointed to the Setanta Sports Trophy 4-Nations tournament (Ireland), and the Senior Celtic Cup (Wales) and the EuroHockey Nations Trophy (Portugal) and he umpired England and the Netherlands in a training match prior to the Eurohockey Nations Championships. Will was awarded his FIH international badge following his performance at the Setanta Sports Trophy in June 2007.  During 2007 he also umpired at the EuroHockey Clubs Champions Challenge 1 Indoor (Hungary) and was awarded his FIH indoor international indoor badge.

 

Laura Houlston
Laura is 23 years of age and works as a Resources Technician at a High School in North Wales. Laura started playing hockey with her brother at Pilkingtons Hockey Club when only 11 years of age.  From this start, Laura went on to play with Colwyn Bay when at the age of 13 she was honoured to be chosen to play for her Country at Under 16 level and over the next few years she was in the Under 18 and Under 21 squads.  Laura is from a hockey family and therefore was encouraged to take up umpiring at the Millennium Games in Cardiff. Although for a number of years Laura was able to combine playing with umpiring in 2007 she decided that her playing was to take a back seat and to concentrate on her umpiring as her main priority. Laura has been appointed to the EuroHockey under 16 and under 18 Trophy in successive years and this year should make her full international appearance.

 

 

 

 

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