Umpires use wireless technology in Women’s National Championship: Hockey News
Umpires have been using the Vokkero communication mechanism to supervise the matches in the Women’s National Championship, which is being conducted at American University in Washington, D.C.
“The Vokkero team is excited that USA Field Hockey has taken the opportunity to demo our world class Sports Officiating Communication System at this prestigious National event. We look forward to further work in with the field hockey community and the sports officials throughout North America,” Bob D’Ostilio, the Business Development Manager of Vokkero shared his views.
These kinds of devices were introduced at the international level in 2006 and since then these devices have become part and parcel of the international matches like FIFA World Cup. These wireless devices facilitate the umpires to keep in touch with each other as well as with the officials standing on the side-lines.
Terry Walsh, USA Field Hockey High Performance Director, seems to be very pleased at the use of such devices, which surely has improved the quality of the game and also provided great assistance for the umpires.
Usually, umpires used their body gestures and hand signals to communicate with each other during the match, but the use of these devices allow them to keep the game smooth. The umpires still use the body signals, but during the situation in which one umpire may not have the clear evidence of the foul, the second one may be communicated for the accurate call.
“Questions on calls can be sorted instantly. Instead of having to stop play tom meet in the middle and discuss a call, issue can be communicated clearly and effectively over these wireless radios. These devices provide better communication for a better game,” Steve Horgan, USA Field Hockey National Umpire and Technical Manager stated about the technology.
In the recent Women’s National Championship, umpires looked very pleased and impressed with this communication system as they now can communicate with each other quite efficiently and perfectly.
These devices not only give the benefits of precise and immediate calls, but these communication devices can also be helpful for the fresh and junior level umpires. These devices can act like trainers for these umpires because the young and new umpires supervised matches more confidently, as they know that their umpire coaches are always there to help them out whenever they caught in a difficult situation.
They can get any kind of assistance from their coaches regarding their positions, handling unanticipated circumstances and replying to sudden and nippy questions. So these devices can provide more learning opportunities and experience to the umpires and can speed up their learning procedure.
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