Outdoor Performance Committee
Outdoor Performance Committee
The NPUA Outdoor Performance Committee (OPC) implements the outdoor umpiring strategy set by the Selection Strategy Committee, and is responsible for managing the performance levels of umpires at all national level outdoor events in England.
The OPC is appointed by the NPUA Executive Committee each year.
Liz Pelling (Chair - Elite Panel)
Liz is chair of the NPUA Elite panels (N1, N2 and HPP) and has chaired EHUOPC for 9 seasons. Liz has been coaching, assessing and mentoring in the NPUA since 2003 and recently retired as an FIH Umpires’ manager outdoor and Indoor.
Liz’s love of hockey has always kept her busy, holding different roles across the sport,. She was made an England Hockey ‘Member of Honour’ when she retired as Vice President for her work on governance and the forming of the new Areas. Recently retired as a Communications Manager in the motor industry, Liz enjoys her new role as Nana to her first granddaughter but confesses she still enjoys all things cars and vans – the thrill of a fast car zooming around a racetrack only second to a good game of hockey!
Simon Gillett (Men's and Women's Candidate Panels)
Mark Everard (Women's N4 Panel)
Charles Hallows (Men's N4 Panel)
Charles was appointed Men’s C Panel Selector in 2024, and continued the transition to N4. He is a member of the B panel and umpires across both genders, Indoors and Outdoors.
Charles is the CFO for a high tech industrial engineering company and is married with two grown-up children and a not so grown up Springer Spaniel. In his spare time, he volunteers as a mentor and advocate for disadvantaged children in Somerset.
Debbie Garner (Women's N3 Panel)
Previously, Women’s C Panel Lead since its inception in 2019, Debbie now leads Women’s N3 Panel and is proud to be mentoring umpires through coaching, assessment and umpire managing. She herself umpired both outdoor and indoor on the national programme, amassing over 200 games in total before retiring to concentrate on umpire support with some occasional technical officiating roles. She is currently a member of the South East Area Disciplinary Panel.
Professionally, Debbie taught across the whole age range from nursery to secondary phases, managing learning support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Away from hockey, Debbie can be found in her garden, crafting and visiting art galleries.
Dawn Bonner (Chair - Men's N3 Panel)
Dawn has been an Umpire Coach/Assessor/Umpire Manager for about 12 years nationally and has been on the FIH International Umpire Managers list since 2015. She currently serves as the panel selector for the Men’s B Panel.
Dawn is an Indirect Procurement Sourcing Manager for a Commercial Insurance company in the City and has been a Liverpool FC supporter for over 40 years.
Ann Hopkins (Women's N2 Panel)
Gary Stent (Men's N2 Panel)
Gary has been a selector on NPUA since 2015, he has been an assessor and coach for NPUA, SCHUA and he now heads up coaching and assessing on the newly formed South East area. He has been a level 3 coach since 2003
Gary umpired from county up to national premier level through his career (National being prior to formation of NPUA!).
He is now retired from work so is available to do mid week as well as weekends just to keep him busy.
Louise Knipe (Women's N1 Panel)
Hamish Jamson (Men's N1 Panel)
David Monger (High Potential Panel)
