The International Netball Federation is pleased to announce that a research programme in Umpire Development in Netball is to be completed by The Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Referee and Match Official Research Network, University of Portsmouth.
The research programme will run for four years and will focus around three core areas:
- First, the mapping and analysis of current umpire systems and structures in place in different countries. This will assist in understanding the delivery and the inherent differences/similarities in this delivery worldwide, through an international audit designed to identify gaps in understanding/provision;
- Second, the research will focus on developing the physical fitness requirement of international umpires, providing a detailed understanding of the physical requirements, with the aim of developing a minimum performance standard for International Netball. This aspect of the study is designed to provide the foundation for the development of a fitness standard for international umpires and set a framework to assess umpires at other levels;
- Third, the research programme will focus on performance analysis towards umpiring, and the factors that influence decision making. This aspect of the research programme will provide an understanding of how to assess and develop umpire decision making using performance analysis. This will be achieved through identifying a range of factors that contribute to accurate decision making, such as umpiring positioning. The study will provide a foundation for how umpiring decision making can be assessed through performance analysis.
The outcome of this research will be fed into the INF Officiating Advisory Groups (OAG) that are planned, as outlined in the World Class Officiating Research Outcome (which is part of the Netball 2020 Strategic Plan) – See the research outcome on our website here.