Last Saturday dawned a bit of a rainy day. Actually torrential at times but this did not dampen spirits. This was the day of the Champ of Champs netball tournament for Secondary Schools to be held at Samoa College.
The games were scheduled to start at 8.00am which meant a 6.00am rise for me, something normally quite unheard of unless it's an emergency situation!! On went the white umpiring gear as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and packed up a few supplies for a day at the courts. I was tasked with bringing the big water cooler and the request was for it to be filled with "Happy Juice" our Hyundai concoction of cheap and nasty vodka mixed with Sprim, a powdered cordial. Being so early in the morning and being it was a school competition I decided to err on the conservative side and filled the cooler with water and ice. Very boring I know!
Purchasing the ice was the first drama of the day. The corner shop was frantically busy at 7.00am and I wondered what all these people were doing out of bed at this hour?! Next fun part was trying to get through the road works through the centre of town in the pouring rain along with every other car in Samoa all the while wondering if my efforts were in vain and if the tournament was going to be cancelled as it was being held outside. I made it to Apia Park our meeting place but not before being stopped at the Police check point where I had to flash the pearly whites and apologise profusely for not carrying my drivers licence with me. Luckily I did have my seatbelt on and the car had a current registration.
We headed up to Samoa College next and this was to be a treat for me. 5 netball courts laid out on the grass in the middle of the rugby field!! This is the way it is done in the islands but the first time I have seen netball played on a grass court. Holes had been dug in the field and the goal posts were held up with rough pieces of wood jammed in to stop them wobbling. Well this is Samoa and we make the best of what we have here.
The day turned out to be fantastic. After the prerequisite opening ceremony and prayers the tournament got underway probably half an hour late which is customary! Many schools were there and 5 courts ran continuously from 9.00am-3.00pm. Us umpires facilitated a one on one off roster. The rain stayed away, the puddles on the field dried up and the sun beat down on us. It was noisy with the sounds pumping from the DJ and it was very very hot out there. The umpires were all decked out in bright red Digicel sponsored t-shirts and caps. I plastered on the sun block but still managed a slight pink tinge by the end of the day. An Uncle Johnny's ice block for 50 sene from the College Canteen was my saving grace during the afternoon. The players were decked out in all manner of uniforms. Some obviously sponsored from overseas and others home made local versions but nothing could stop the fun and excitement of your team winning! Footware of the players also varied from bare feet to jandals and luckily the holes on the field had been filled with sand before the tournament started.
We all managed to scout for up and coming young players for our clubs and I even managed to recruit a Sister who is interested in joining our umpiring group for the main season. All in all a very successful and fun filled day.
Our umpiring is really taking off over here. We have a group going now under the Samoa Netball Association and there are 10-12 of us currently taking this task seriously. Yesterday we studied and sat the Netball New Zealand regional exam for umpiring. It was a tough paper and we have to get 85% to pass so are now waiting in suspense to see if some of us can pull through and raise the standard of umpiring in Samoa for the first time. Fingers crossed. For the next month we will all be training and preparing as the main netball season starts on the 5th June.
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