On Wednesday Lucy Crook swapped her Green Army U16 shirt to wear England Hockey’s orange shirt as she was invited to umpire the U14 girls Tier 1 School Championship finals held at Lee Valley, the home of England Hockey.

Lucy has been a member of WHC since the age of 5. Over the lockdown period she signed up for the England Hockey Level 1 training course. She has been supported by the club on her umpiring adventure and given lots of opportunities to umpire both Junior and Senior games with some fantastic mentoring from club umpires. This resulted in her achieving her Level 1 assessed status last year.

Before her prestigious invite to Lee Valley she was invited in February to umpire the U14-18 Tier 2-4 Schools Finals at Nottingham and as a result of this she was then called up again by England Hockey to Lee Valley. She absolutely loved the experience of umpiring at the home of England Hockey and in front of some very enthusiastic parents! All the young umpires (aged between 15-23) umpired 3 games in the morning and then were allocated their finals. Lucy was awarded the bronze play off final which she umpired on the main pitch, hopefully the first of many experiences at Lee Valley.

We know a club needs players, but importantly we need umpires as well. If you are interested in finding out how to umpire or would like to develop a new skill then please get in touch with anyone at the club. Contact details are on the website.

Well done Lucy. You have done the club proud!