After a weekend of intense theory at La Manga, Spain now has several new Level One A ICC Europe Umpires to be proud of. Under the watchful eye of the tutor Graham Cooper, representatives from regions in Cataluyna, Lanzarote and the Costa Blanca region completed the weekend long course.
The event included a collection of theoretical and practical assesments culminating with a one on one discussion with the ICC Europe tutor Graham Cooper about their personal development as a umpire.
George Wambeek,Tom Halpin,Gordon Ashford, Dave Moore, David Leonida and John Howden from the Costa Blanca region, Mohammad Adnan Khan representing Cataluyna and Craig Trapps from Lanzarote all passed the course that is an extension of the Level One course that CE held in Madrid last year.
All the candidates already had passed the Level One course and had officiated league games in their various leagues during the cricket season. As part of the criteria for being accepted on the course candidates also needed to be a member of the ECO ACB association.
Candidates will be expected to officiated extensively next season and discussions are in place for ICC Europe to send a tutor to Spain sometime next year to assess the fieldcraft skills of each respective candidate.
CE would like to thank all their candidates for their time and efforts and Graham Cooper from ICC Europe for devising such a formative course. It is hoped this continued education of officials will continue to raise the standard of umpiring and officiating in Spain. Another level 1 course is scheduled for Barcelona in the first weekend in February and CE have also budgeted in 2013 for an ICC Europe scorers course and a officials seminar at some point next season.