Test matches only - Campbell

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Highly-respected Jamaican netball umpire, Sylvester Campbell, is making himself available for international Test matches, two months after announcing that he was walking away from officiating at international netball tournaments.

The 42-year-old, who also coaches Tivoli Gardens in the Berger Paints Super League competition, pointed to his ambition to dedicate more time to the training and development of fresh umpiring talent as a major reason for his decision.

"I'm sticking to the decision not to officiate at IFNA's (International Federation of Netball Associations) international tournaments, I will just be doing Test matches from now on. So no World Youth Netball Champion-ships, World Netball Champion-ships, World Netball Series (Fastnet) or any of those. I'll just be concentrating on the Test matches between the different countries," Campbell said.

Campbell, who also serves on the Jamaica Netball Association's (JNA) Umpires' subcommittee, says that this was also a matter of self-preservation and an opportunity for other promising umpires to get important exposure and experience.

"The Test matches are usually just three games, while these tournaments sometimes stretch to 13 days and more of non-stop running and officiating. At my age, it is not easy to do that all the timefor such an extended period, it takes a toll on your body," Campbell added. "So I'm getting out of the championship thing and I will be now focusing on Test matches."

Campbell, who pointed out that his announcement has triggered several calls from several international officials - who have sought to encourage him to change his mind - further pointed out that he was looking to officiate for another two years before hanging up his whistle for good, to dedicate his energy to the developmental aspect of the craft.

"I've been getting a lot of calls from the people in IFNA, who have expressed concerns that I was leaving the game for good at this point," he noted.

Ambition

"I want to go into training of umpires, I want to be in charge of the region and in charge of Jamaica at some point where this is concerned, that is my ambition," Campbell shared. "I am looking to make that transition from umpiring to the training and development of umpires in Jamaica and the region and become the very best at that."

Campbell, who also serves at as a sports officer at the Institute of Sports (Insports), expressed an intention to take umpiring development to the grassroots level in 2012, in collaboration with the JNA. He also underlined his concern for the state of local umpiring and admitted that more needed to be done from an administrative perspective.

"We are working with the JNA to come up with something that will aid in this respect. The competitions that we run at Insports are community-based and that is good for development, so it can also be used to unearth some new umpiring talent," said Campbell.

"Locally, it (umpiring) is not where it ought to be, it is a sore point and the spectators in the stands feel it. Most netball supporters will agree that the weakest part of the game locally is the umpiring and we have to find ways to become more effective at the subcommittee level to really change this and force a renewal," Campbell said.