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At the tender age of 20, Emma Douglas is fast making a name for herself in Ulster and Ireland umpiring circles. www.greenislandladies.co.uk caught up with Emma to learn about her transition from playing to umpiring and her achievements so far.
Emma's earliest hockey memories are getting up early on a Saturday morning to play at Mossley Hockey Club as a centre forward. Once she turned 14 Emma joined Greenisland Ladies and turned out each week in a young 5th XI team, this time in defence. She also played for her school, Monkstown Community School and fondly remembers captaining the U14 side to a league and cup double!
During five years of playing for Greenisland Ladies Emma has clocked up appearances for all five senior teams, including some outings in the 1st XI in the 2006/07 season. Throughout this time Emma became renowned for her versatility and recalls playing in every position at one time or another, "I have played in every position, including goalkeeper. Up until the 2007/08 season I had not played on the right side which most people found strange, but one match Judith Sweeney put me on right wing and I scored, so from then on I started playing on the right side too".
Although umpiring was yet to feature in Emma's CV she wasn't shy in telling those officiating her games when they got it wrong! "I once told an umpire he needed to go to Specsavers because he gave a goal for a ball that was hit outside the circle! Also while playing for the 4th XI the opposition were making substitutes while we were preparing to take a penalty corner. The umpire was allowing this so I demanded that play be stopped until the players were changed back again".
Toward the end of the 2007/08 season Emma began to suffer from injury and describes her visits to the physio. "Although I'd been advised by the physio to rest and not play, it was the last game of the season and I desperately wanted to play. During the game I got hit by the ball on both knees and had to sit out the rest of the match. My doctor referred me to a physio and podiatrist because the underlying problem was actually coming from my feet and this was affecting my knees and hips. It was the twisting and turning on the hard hockey surfaces that was causing the problems and I was basically told not to play any more or I could do myself more serious damage".
Despite this devastating news Emma was not deterred and immediately pursued another way of being involved in the game - umpiring. She had already passed her exam and had umpired a couple of 5th XI games. Driven by the desire to stay involved and keep fit, Emma put her all into umpiring and found herself busier on a Saturday afternoon than when she was playing!
Emma began umpiring in July 2008 at club level for Greenisland teams and has progressed successfully to umpire Senior League matches. She is currently a Full Grade 3 umpire and is working towards becoming a Grade 2. Taking it all in her stride, this season Emma also umpired in the Junior Inter Provincial Tournament which was hosted and won by Ulster, the Irish Challenge Cup Final between Fermoy and YMCA and an Ireland U16 International match against Belgium.
In September Emma is umpiring in the UK games for U18s in Wales and has a bright future ahead. "My ambitions are now to obtain my Grade 2 and after that Grade 1, then become a Federation of International Hockey Umpire and to one day umpire in the Olympics".
UP CLOSE WITH... NIKKI CAIRNS
UP CLOSE WITH... BARBRA WEBBER
UP CLOSE WITH... DAWN MONTGOMERY
UP CLOSE WITH... ALYSON DOUGLAS
UP CLOSE WITH... NORMA MONTGOMERY
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| 15-May-2009 18:37 | |||||||||||||