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John's Bio
John has been participating in field hockey since 1992. What started as a means of staying in shape after a successful rugby career at the junior level turned into a lifelong passion.
John has always been active in sports. Even as a small boy he played hockey with his brother in the family back yard with sticks his father would splice together from the broken ones found at Optimist Park in Calgary. John’s mother played as a girl in Yorkshire and took it up again in the 1970’s when the family finally settled in Calgary. When he and his brother Michael decided to take up the game in the early ’90s it was her old sticks they used to get started.
John had been an active volleyball official after high school as a means of staying in the game and earn a little cash for university. When the Calgary field hockey league required clubs to have at least 2 umpire’s certified each year, John saw it as an easy transition and took the course. For a decade, John used his umpire’s fees to pay for the next season of hockey, rarely if ever seeing the cash. It helped as most of his extra spending money went to support what he jokingly refers to as his ‘goalkeeping habit.’
In 1996 and 1997 John was selected to participate in several Field Hockey Canada training camps and was fortunate enough at one of them to meet his playing idol, Seoul Olympic Gold medalist goalkeeper Ian Taylor. It would prove to be the highlight of his playing career. John won his last tournament with the Alberta Men’s provincial team in the senior men’s division of the 1999 California Cup.
By this time he had been making an impression in the local leagues with his umpiring, and to his surprise was invited to several domestic tournaments in which he thrived as an official. Upon returning from California he received word that he had been appointed to the Pan Am Club Championships being held in Kingston Jamaica. John was able to secure umpiring the final, finding the entire event thrilling as the local television channel TVJ covered the entire tournament. If this was what umpiring on the world stage was going to be like he could see doing it for a long time.
His success lead him to be sent to Barcelona in early 2000 and Chile the same year for the Junior Pan Am Cup. Since 1999 he has umpired at least 8 National Championship Finals and the Gold Medal game in 2 Central American & Caribbean games. In 2010 he will have attended 4 international events: The Eurohockey Indoor Club Champions Trophy in Austria, the Pan American Indoor Cup in Venezuela (WCQ), the Commonwealth Games in India and the Asian Games in China.
John remains active at all levels of hockey and is currently the only Canadian male umpire with his Grade 1 international indoor rating.
He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his wife Kristen and their cat Diesel.
