FHumpires is a resource and sounding board for everything and anything to do with umpiring field hockey. As one of the most popular participation sports in the world, umpires are high in demand and there are incredible opportunities for skilled individuals to reach levels of the game that they couldn’t reach with a stick in their hand. FHumpires provides a community for umpires to delve into all the ways in which we can be better at what we love to do and serve the game with excellence.
Keely Dunn
As a player, Keely Dunn is an alumnus of the Henry Wise Wood high school field hockey program, winning the Most Improved Player award in 1989. She also played 13 seasons representing Team Alberta from the U16 to Senior age levels. Keely played for the University of Calgary Dinos between 1991-1996 and spent several seasons coaching at Henry Wise Wood and Western Canada as well as volunteering time with junior programs in the city.
In 2000, Keely retired from elite-level hockey as a player to pick up the whistle and quickly rose through the ranks of Canada’s top umpires, being appointed to the Senior National Championships in her first season. Shortly after came an opportunity to go abroad which allowed her to earn her FIH badge in 2003. She was promoted to the Promising List in 2006 and achieved her Grade 1 rating in 2010.
Highlights of her appointments include twice going to the Junior World Cup and umpiring Olympic Qualifiers in Belgium and Harare, Zimbabwe and a World Cup Qualifier in Kazan, Russia. She also made history by being the first umpire to control a Shoot-Out Competition at an FIH Tournament at the Champions Challenge II in Vienna in April 2011. She earned her Indoor FIH badge in 2014.
She also spent six seasons umpiring in England’s competitive National League, working her way up to the Women’s Premier Panel and the Men’s B Panel as well as umpiring over 80 of British University league matches and the women’s BUCS final twice.
Keely retired from the FIH lists in 2017 after accumulating 107 outdoor and 7 indoor caps over 28 tournaments. Back home, she contributes to the umpiring community in Canada and worldwide through clinics, umpire coaching and mentorship. She's been a Field Hockey Canada umpire manager for 22 years and was an assistant UM at the South America Games in Cochabamba in 2018. She is also an FIH Academy Trainer for umpiring courses.
In 2023, Keely was the Umpire Manager for the inaugral EHCO Trophy over Easter, running alongside the famed EHL Finals at the Amsterdam Hockey & Bandy Club. She's returned with another fantastic crew of FHU3T umpires, umpire coaches and technical officials for the second edition, which has doubled to 16 teams competing for the title of U19 European club champion.
She also traveled to Wellingon in March of 2024 to assist with umpire coaching at the Hockey New Zealand National Masters Hockey Championship. With over 60 umpires taking charge of 105 teams, this was a huge event Keely was privileged to be a part of.
FHumpires was launched as a coaching and mentoring platform in the summer of 2020, because timing is everything. You can jump over to the FHu3t, courses and dope merch and of course, get over to the Discord server where the #FHu3t congregates and has a blast.
She speaks regularly for clubs and associations and is a frequent podcast and interview guest when not busy live streaming from the FHumpires YouTube channel. Not content with talking non-stop just about umpiring, she was a co-commentator on the Watch.Hockey live stream of the PAHF Indoor Pan Am Cup hosted in Calgary in 2024.
Now the proud owner of two bionic knees, back home, she plays Division 2 hockey and coaches Division 1 Phoenix FHC, the club she's been a part of for over 30 years.
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