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)
TBC (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)
Debbie became Women’s C Panel Lead in 2019, balancing this role with her commitments to the East region as an umpire selector. Before stepping down from umpiring league hockey, she umpired over 200 National League games, both indoor and outdoor and now helps out with school hockey, keeping her in touch with education since her retirement from teaching. She also is actively involved in technical officiating for England Hockey and World Masters Hockey.
Away from hockey, Debbie enjoys visiting art galleries and exhibitions and renovating her wild garden.
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)
