Sandra Stuart, of Alexandra, and Jonathan Young, of Cromwell, both received their first level of national and international judging accreditation at the end of the week-long Tri Nations tournament at the Cromwell hockey turf, having spent the week on the technical bench at the tournament.
Tournament director and head of the technical team for the week Vicki Allen, of Whangarei, said the accreditation was an honour gained only after a tremendous amount of work. Stuart and Young had both made a huge contribution to Central Otago hockey, and the hockey community was thrilled with their success, Allen said. Stuart and Young have each been awarded level 1 judging accreditation, and played important roles during the Cromwell tournament.
The three-person "technical bench" at each international hockey tournament was comprised of two judges and a technical officer, Allen said. Allen, who has level 5 judging accreditation, was the technical officer for the Cromwell tournament, and Stuart and Young were both judges.
One judge in each team had the "very important role" of timekeeping for the match, Allen said.
This was the most vital component of the technical bench, and Stuart performed that role last week, Allen said.
The second judge maintains and updates the live tournament management system (TMS), recording the times the substitutions enter the field, the goal scorers, the type of goal scored, the suspended players and the exact minute this happens. Young performed that role during the Tri Nations week.
Central Otago Sports Turf Trust chairman Mike Pardekooper said about 12,000 tickets had been sold for the week-long tournament between New Zealand, Australia and Japan, and the event had been an outstanding success.
It had provided an economic boost and "a real buzz" to Cromwell, lifted the profile of hockey and reminded of the quality of the Cromwell hockey turf.
The Black Sticks lost 4-1 to Australia in the final yesterday.
