NPUA Conference

The NPUA Executive Committee is delighted to confirm final details for this year’s NPUA Conference, which will be held at Nottingham Conferences on 30^th & 31^st August. We return to the venue of the 2023 conference (this year complete with working technology!), with accommodation and breakfast provided on site at the Orchard Hotel.

The theme of the 2025 NPUA Conference is ‘Embedding Excellence: Mindset and Momentum’. Following the launch of our key characteristics of high performing umpires and umpire support in recent years, plus the publication of the EHL briefing last year, the focus is on reinforcing these principles and maintaining the impetus that’s been generated. Be prepared to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge your current ways of thinking, as we look to keep pushing the standards and performance levels that NPUA members deliver.

So far we have announced three outstanding guest speakers for this year’s event:

Luke Pearce – With a two Rugby World Cups under his belt, plus a Premiership Final, Luke Pearce is widely regarded as one of the world’s very best officials. We’re delighted that Luke will be joining us to share his knowledge and experiences from refereeing at the highest level.

Sue Jones – Back by popular demand! Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist Sue Jones has worked with elite athletes for a number of years, including premier league referees and our English officials in the lead up to the 2024 Olympic Games.

James Bateman – James is Head of Men’s Performance Hockey and Men’s 1st XI coach at University of Nottingham. Alongside University of Nottingham commitments, James is the England U18 Boys Assistant Coach and in 2022 completed the European Hockey Federation’s Top Coaches Programme.

Saturday’s programme will start at 9:15am with an introductory session for first time attendees, followed by the full programme starting at 9:30. Saturday will feature sessions on two topics from the EHL Briefing that was launched last season. We’ll kick off with an interactive, video-based session focussing on physicality and incidental contact, featuring various NPUA experts and facilitated by Liz Pelling. Later in the day we’ll focus on communication and respect; specifically, the benefits of building effective relationships off the pitch to aid on-field performance. This will be an interactive session hosted by Bex Edwards and Martin Twist, featuring several familiar faces on the big screen!

After lunch, Sue Jones will deliver a keynote session titled ‘The Psychology of Professionalism. After resounding positive feedback from members last year, Sue returns to offer more advice from her career working in elite sport.

During the Saturday we’ll also be hosting a number of workshops on key topics, including effective use of radios, officiating psychology, physical fitness and injury prevention, the key characteristics of umpire support and working collaboratively with your match official.

Saturday’s daytime programme will finish with a short presentation from the Ride For Jarvy team, including some special guests.

The Saturday evening will feature our annual gala dinner and awards presentation. This gives us the opportunity to celebrate the success of our members throughout the past season, and discover the winners of our prestigious awards, including the Chris Todd Award for Umpire Support, The Graham Nash Trophy for Outdoor Umpire of the Year, plus this year we’ll be awarding one NPUA member with the Julia Gill Lifetime Achievement Award to recognise their outstanding contribution to NPUA.

Sunday’s programme will start at 9:30am and feature more workshops focussed on the key high performing umpires and umpire support, as well as a second session from Sue Jones focusing on the importance of self-reflection.

Before lunch we’ll hear from our primary guest speaker, Rugby World Cup referee Luke Peare. Luke has refereed at the highest level for a number of years, and will join us to share his experiences of officiating at elite level, including the ingredients that go into ensuring excellent decision making under pressure.

The post lunch session will focus on the third and final topic from the EHL briefing – everyone’s favourite, the aerial ball! Fingers on buzzers as we enjoy another interactive, video-based session of the weekend.

To close out the conference programme, we’ll be joined by our third guest speaker, James Bateman. James is a familiar face to many NPUA members, and has experience of coaching teams in all divisions of the England Hockey League, as well as at Junior international level. James will offer a coach’s perspective on the topics from the EHL briefing, and offer advice on one of our key characteristics of high performing umpires; game understanding. Sunday’s programme will finish at 4pm.

As ever, an enormous amount of work has gone into the preparation of this year’s conference and it promises to be a superb event. Due to popular demand post the booking deadline, we have secured some additional bedrooms with the venue, so it’s not too late to book your place via the booking form.

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact event organiser Jaime Cox (development@npua.co.uk), or if you have any payment queries, please contact NPUA Treasurer Richard Kirk (treasurer@npua.co.uk)