17 October 2024
World Curling Academy kickstarts Umpire development in Korea
From 1–6 October, prospective umpires came together to gain and improve their officiating skills at the World Curling Academy Game Umpire course in Cheongju, Korea.
The programme, organised by the Korean Curling Federation in collaboration with the World Curling Academy (WCA), has been established to give current and future Korean umpires the best possible education to pave their way to officiating at all levels of the sport.
The Korean Curling Federation has introduced a new curling umpire licence system, meaning previous and new curling umpires in Korea must undergo this course. Participants kickstarted their learning with theoretical information prior to the weeklong programme, allowing WCA Educators Joaquim Reimertz and Eeva Röthlisberger to dive straight into teaching the upcoming umpires practical experience from the beginning.
“The prior knowledge of the 50 participants was a mixture of experienced umpires, players, instructors and people who never have been on curling ice. I was thrilled to see how the more experienced helped and worked together with the less experienced participants to perform all tasks,” said Reimertz.
“The new licensing system, Korea Curling has recently implemented, sounds interesting, and I hope to see many of the participants as a game umpire at a World Curling event in the future.
Some participants shared more about their experience.
“I have always dreamed of becoming a curling umpire but was concerned about getting involved in practice because I didn’t understand some of the rules in theory,” said participant Jeongyoun Hong.
“However, through the World Curling Academy umpire course in Korea, I was able to get closer to my goal of becoming a curling umpire by practicing, discussing and answering questions with the instructors.”
Misung Shin, another future umpire, said: “It was a great opportunity for me and the Korean umpires to grow together through the World Curling Academy umpire course in Korea.
“I would like to see Korean umpires working in many international competitions in the future, and I hope I can be one of them.”
For information on Umpiring Courses currently available through World Curling visit the World Curling Academy website.
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