📅 Mar 24 19.00 GMT
➡️ YouTube
We're recapping the exploits of the FHU3T at the Hockey New Zealand National Masters Championships, commentating on the live stream of the Indoor Pan Am Cup in Calgary, Canada, and looking ahead to the EHCO Trophy U19 European Club championship, and another UK speaking tour.
It's been a crazy month and there's more to come so let's catch up and reset together.
See you there!
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⏱ Chapter Markers:
00:00:00 Chair Dancing
00:07:20 Hockey New Zealand Vantage National Masters Hockey Tournament 2024 Recap
00:34:47 Flowers! Umpires Are Awesome
00:40:00 New Zealand is Also Awesome But Stay Home Because Michael McCartney and I Don't Want It To Get Crowded
00:48:05 Commentating on the Indoor Hockey Pan American Cups 2024
00:58:14 EHCO Trophy 2024 S2 – Amsterdam Hockey & Bandy Club
01:03:37 UK Speaking Tour – Just a Few Dates Still Available!
Check out when the next #WhatUpWednesday will go live.
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Transcript
🎶
Hello, what up Sunday and Monday. Kia ora to all of my Kiwi friends, several of whom are tuning in. Hang on. Don't like this.
I think that's better. Okay. Hi. Is this on? Is this thing on? Is this thing on? I don't want to start until I know for sure because we've met and the, there's a, there's Sometimes problems. Hi, Ryan's here. Good to see you. And yes. Okay. Everybody like this had to happen. I'm not saying that Frenchie forced me to do this, but he certainly asked about 14 times.
So anyway, here we go. Wearing it very, very happy. Um, where did I get that? I don't know. Just in Wellington and we're gonna get into that just in a moment. Oh my gosh, you know what I realized? I don't have any of my title splash things today. Yeah. Well, we're just we're just gonna work with it We're just gonna go with it.
This is a casual casual show if you tuned in because you're here to dissect some clips and maybe get some Uh, maybe have a skill session. Um, not today, Satan. Not today. We are, we are doing something quite a bit different because of the last month of life has been bonkers in the best way. And the next month is going to be just as bonkers without a doubt.
Without a shadow of a doubt. So I want to make sure that I, I get you up to speed because it seems like, okay, I'm really kind of pants at talking about what's going on with FHumpires and really good at talking about hockey that's going on out there. With other people, and y'all are a really big part of everything that's been happening with FHU3T stuff and massive things coming up on the horizon.
So yeah, let's, let's sort of talk about that. Um, yeah, Nyla knows. Yeah, he did. He did that. He did that. But in the gorgeous way, you know, no problem at all. Um, No, I was badgering Frenchie for, oh, look, this comment. No, not happy. Let's fix that. Okay. Okay, um, I was badgering him for a hoodie. And, Mike, the fact that you haven't indicated that you brought one back from your time in Auckland is indicative that I failed.
I am displeased. And yes, I need Maté so hard. Y'all, okay, you're gonna find out. You're gonna find out what's going. Um, we are doing everything strongly influenced, absolutely. Um, let's see. Rumor has it all the clubs Keely's doing talks at in the UK asked 14 times as well. No, they didn't. They asked once and I gave them a slot also to be covered.
So this is what we're talking about. Imagine, whoosh, it's, we're doing the red thing and the whoosh. So our first topic today is the Hockey New Zealand National Masters Championship. And then we are going to talk about the 2024 Indoor Pan Am Cup, and then EHCO Trophy, the Under 19 European Club Championship coming up over Easter.
And then our last topic is going to be the FHumpires Tour of the UK in April. So many things to talk about it. There you go. It's, um, it's a, it's a Hey Tiki made of Punamu. I'm working on it. I'm working on my merity. Uh, let's see. That was, that was not, no, you didn't set me up at all. Super mad. Oh my gosh.
So mad. Okay. Oh goodness. What am I going to do? Yeah. See, I'm ready to press my topics button and it's just not going to work. So, um, let's, let's just try this. Oh, you know what I really need? I need music. I'm going to put on my calming music so that I don't go bonkers. Just sort of thinking about stuff.
Okay. Uh, we are here and I am going to talk all about this experience. So. Oh my goodness. I'm going to let you soak in all of these factoids yourself. Uh, Frenchy supplied this to everybody who was part of the umpiring team. Over 60 umpires. Is that digit on there? I'm not sure if it is. Um, 97 teams managed to play, um, over 60 umpires, oh, 92 officials and umpires, 1700 players.
And. This, I was corrected. Mike McCartney reminded me that he was actually the one who started this. Cause he already had plans to go to Australia for a wedding and then maybe to pop over to New Zealand for this particular tournament as Shane Macnee and Steven Dyerberg, who are also part of the Yellow Squad, had been applying or were in the process of finding out whether they were going to get appointed to this tournament.
And. And I thought, you know what, maybe, maybe this would be a really cool road trip to do. Now one of the big reasons that I decided that this would be fun is because over the last several years, there's been one person in particular who I owe a lot to for what is probably something that he won't even remember doing.
So Colin French. Uh, who is part of Hockey New Zealand and a retired FIH, uh, umpire, a current FIH umpire manager who was in fact in charge of the Hockey World Cup in, uh, Bhubaneswar and Ruckela last year, for example, just amongst all the many things that he does. But over the last few years. Every so often, I'll get a note from Frenchie saying I really like what you're doing.
Keep going and Um, starting already. I can't, I can't tell you how important it is for somebody who is behind a piece of glass and far away and feels oftentimes isolated from the hockey scene to get that kind of encouragement from somebody who is so well respected and and regarded and so passionate about providing amazing umpiring to the sport.
So I figured, Hey, I, I'm going to contact him and see if he'd like me to come down and just be part of the umpire management team and give a hand. And he was like, yeah, you want to come down to New Zealand? I'm like, sure. So that's how that all came about. Plus the idea to be able to work with the New Zealand contingent of the FHE3T was just such an opportunity I couldn't miss.
So there was, uh, there was Andrew Pincott and Ryan Griffiths and Steven Dyerberg, Shane Macnee, Viv Dyerberg. Okay. Uh, Ben Burton, Scottish gap year student down there, he signed up and made sure that, uh, he made his way up to well, down to Wellington from Auckland, which was just fantastic. So who did I miss?
Who did I miss? Of course, Coming over from England, Mike McCartney and Mike, Mike McDowell. And to be able to work with, you know, the imports and then the local, uh, New Zealand folk of the FHU3T was amazing. Plus look at that number of 92 officials and umpires. They were a whole bunch more umpires that I had the chance to work with.
And it was just amazing. Now, I wanted to show you this video. I don't know if the audio is coming through, but, um, you know, that'll be important. But this is the Poufri. Hopefully I got that right. This is a traditional ceremony that was conducted at the opening of the tournament, the day before it took place.
It opened, and I was honoured to be invited along with all of the other umpires and officials. And, uh, I wrote notes. I wrote notes. You just witnessed the kgi and Uri, which is the pressing of the noses and shaking hands. Uh, we're listening to the Kanga from by Te Awa, uh, the gentleman who is blessing and welcoming and acknowledging that there are people coming into this, uh, this Maori land.
We're hearing now the, I believe this is the Wayate, a song of support. And it was, it was just a really incredible experience to be part of this. So let's see if I can cut this off for a moment. Here's a response from the invitees, the guests into this land, which was really beautiful. They were harmonizing.
Goosebumps. Blessing of the trophies by Te Aotearoa. And just, you know, I'm not a spiritual person. I'm not a religious person, but what I learned from this and from so much that I was able to, to, to share and take part in from the Kiwi people. Here's Frenchy doing his, his bit. Outside World Masters Games, but we'll talk about that another time.
What I started learning and understanding of the New Zealand people is that they take care, and I don't mean that they're careful of themselves, but they believe in and they show that they care. A deep amount of care for everyone who comes to their home, who come to their island. And this sense of responsibility extends to absolutely everything they do, which is just, just magnificent.
Um, I, I was struck from everything from restaurant service to people I bumped into the, into at the airport, to people around the turf, to. The entire umpiring and officiating team to all the experiences I had in the country afterwards. They take care of each other and it gives them just this, just this, it's an incredible sense of unity and, and, and joy that comes through everything.
So I wanted to include that for you because, um, obviously it had a huge impact on me and I'm sure it had a massive impact on all of the other FHE3T folk who were a part of the event. Um, let's see, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna stop in and look at some of the comments here because this is a more casual show and I want to make sure that everybody is there.
Um, yeah, this is, this is my life of a streamer. Let's see if I can make this actually legible. That'd be fun. Here we go. Okay. Um, there you go. Shane, a stunning week of hockey. Absolutely. And there's Andrew, it was a real joy to be able to watch Andrew and Ryan and Shane and Steve, Steven and Viv and Mike and Mike and all of the other umpires.
Jelena, Emma, Scott, um, Tim. I'm going to name a whole bunch of people and I'm going to forget a whole bunch more. Die. Um. Sue, Nano, uh, so many other really fantastic people that I had the opportunity to work with. Now, um, yeah, this happened. So I did take my stuff because I was notified by Frenchie that, you know, stuff happens, conflicts occur, people get injured, all this kind of stuff.
So would you mind just, you know, do you mind packing a skirt? And so I did, and I ended up on the field. This is, uh, Jelena Phillips here that I had the absolute pleasure of umpiring an over fifties women's game with. Now I did, oh, actually. I think this was an over 45s women's game. And then we did, then I did two over 50s.
Does that sound right to anybody watching? I don't even remember. But the reason that I include this is because I hadn't done a competitive match and I don't, you know, I, I love the folks here in Calgary, but our hockey for me is not really competitive. It's fun. It's, it's enjoyable. It's, it's my home, but I wouldn't consider it competitive level.
And I hadn't done anything competitive since I had my knees replaced. And when I was asked whether I would take on this game with Jelena, I, I felt that anxiety and that fear that, Oh my goodness, am I going to be able to keep up? Am I going to, am I going to be super rusty? Um, how is this going to feel? I want to make sure that I serve the tournament.
I also know that there are going to be eyes on me because people are like, what? The umpire manager taking the pitch. As it turns out Frenchie did three games as well. Paul Morrison, who's another one of the top UMs there, um, and a retired FIH umpire, he did five games, four games, something like that.
Insane. And so I wasn't alone in this, but I did feel very vulnerable. And what I realized is it's important for me to lead and to embrace something that I was asking everybody to do in this tournament, which was to Get uncomfortable. It's really easy for us, especially as we move into this phase of our careers where we're serving masters hockey and, you know, we've done a lot of the hard climb and maybe we've retired from top level competition to take a step back.
And just feel like, Oh, okay, I've done the work. I can just enjoy this now. I can enjoy the hockey. I can enjoy being with my friends. I can enjoy great weather and just great social scene and do all that kind of thing, but in the briefing, I am, which is posted on, in the live section here on the YouTube channel, I took a chance in the briefing and just had this inspired idea that I wanted.
For people to ask themselves whether they were willing to be uncomfortable. Uh, almost tipped over my mate. And as you can see, I look very uncomfortable on the pitch there because. In these moments of stress and anxiety and, and happiness and sorrow and heightened emotions. That's when we as adults can achieve our highest level of neuroplasticity.
It's an opportunity for us to embrace a state of learning that is difficult for us to access, that we left behind a bit more when we were young. And I challenged people in the briefing. I challenged the umpiring team. Those of you who are interested in this, And it may not be any of you. It may be all of you.
It may be some of you. If you want this, I'm here to make you uncomfortable. And through the next week, I had the opportunity to see who wanted to get uncomfortable. It was, it was really awesome. It was really awesome. And that is something that, uh, like a spirit or a philosophy that I'm going to keep working with.
Maybe my presentation was a little bit, it was a little bit Keely. I, I may have sworn a few times. And pop myself into, you know, my usual emotional state, but I think, I think it may have worked. I'm still waiting for some more feedback on that. Um, this is Frenchie making me uncomfortable again, uh, by dancing with me before, as we were waiting for the, the, the talk to get started.
So in the middle of the tournament, I did do a talk for the Wellington area folk, any umpires that were in the area who wanted to hear what was happening. And some current thoughts and things like that. And ended up having, um, this is also on the channel. You can, you can find this, uh, in the live section as well.
Had a really interesting Q and A session afterwards as well. Uh, of which, um, Jolt of Koli Evil was a part of it and several other folks where we were able to have a really interesting conversation. With, uh, including Frenchie and Nick Young, who's a coach that, like, it was incredible, the people I bumped into down there.
I'd met her doing an FIH Academy coaching course, and there she was, she's working for Hockey New Zealand, she's, She's originally Australian, uh, played on, uh, the Hockey Roos and there she is. She's like, Keely, you're actually here. And we, you know, we have this amazing conversation. She comes to the talk.
We're able to get some of her perspectives and stuff. So if you haven't had an opportunity to, to see that, uh, Um, please, you know, in your spare time, go have a look, see how that looks. Um, and we'll, um, we'll go from there. Oh yeah. I'm going to, I'm going to leave it on this while I look at some of the, um, uh, look at the thing, some of the comments while we have this on.
Very flattering shot of Frenchie. And that is Mallory there on the left. Mallory was not only, uh, playing, but also umpiring. And I had the pleasure of coaching her on one of her games. And let's see, Shane, I'm part of the New Zealand family. Um, yes. I really, truly feel that and, um, thank you. I do have the shirt, uh, Diberg, um, yes.
It was such an incredible learning opportunity, um, and an execution and the spirit that everybody who wanted to seek out that discomfort and, and work with somebody totally different from the opposite side of the world. I mean, it was just incredible. They really just opened themselves up to vulnerability and it was amazing.
I was feeling very uncomfortable and a few, a few swears. There were a few swears. Did you know that New Zealand is a very sweary bunch of folk too? That's why I felt so comfortable. As soon as I landed, everybody's just, Just F bombing each other and I'm like, I like it here. I can be myself. It's just brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant. Um, let's see, um, posted that clip into the, I don't know which clip you're talking about. We'll see what happens there. Um, McCartney. Yes. I feel some excellent neuroplasticity was witnessed. After beverages or gin and tonics, which, look, I mean of all the things that you're gonna learn in New Zealand, was I gonna learn that I love gin and tonic?
I, I couldn't have seen that coming, but there I was. Paul Morrison, uh, feeding me some gin and tonics over the course of the week. And I was like, this stuff is amazing. It doesn't give me headaches. I've been struggling with wine lately. So that was really nice. Anyway, this is a shot here of the gold medal men's 35s game.
And as you can see our very own right in the middle there, Mike McDowell. Uh, he's on that match. Uh, Andy is one of the reserves and then to the right. is Dave Oakley, who is one of the appointers, but also, um, they're in that men's final. And I'm just so proud of everybody and the work that they did on the pitch because to, to an umpire, the feedback that I got from the other umpire managers was that the people who were involved were professional and skilled and very, very coachable.
And the players were always happy to see them. So to me, that's the highest compliment that I could ever receive as an umpire coach is that people who are part of this community that we work with are doing an amazing job and it gets me a little verklempt thinking about it. Wow. It's going to be a great show.
Um, let's see what's happening with the, the comments here. Um, well, see, I don't understand all of your swears. Cause I'm, I think you're swearing sometimes and not. And not my language. And my, my big melon is covering up some, some of this handsomeness happening over on that side. So, this is just one shot, obviously, of, uh, Stephen, Shane, McCartney, McDowell, and Forementioned Ben Burton.
They arranged themselves in a really nice diagonal. Isn't that special? Isn't that special? Really, really great. Uh, Stefan, great week. Thanks for coming. Yeah, uh, the F bomb is your best adjective and noun. Your vocabulary is very impressive. Absolutely. And at least I wasn't as bad as French. He almost got kicked out of the wine bar later that night after finals.
Yeah, well, you know, just look, French, he just, he goes, he goes. And I have a lot of respect for that. Um, just some more shots here, but I'm just, I'm honored that I had the opportunity and to be able to meet so many new people who, you know, we're, we're up for the experience. Who took me on board, even with, you know, sometimes a little bit of, okay.
And just what we were able to provide as an entire team to that tournament, which was absolutely spectacular. I have never been a part of a tournament so large. And apparently, I mean, if you go back to those stats, that is the largest team sporting event that New Zealand has ever hosted. Hockey Masters.
Bam! Wait. Oh, it didn't work. Let's see if this one will work. That's right, friends. Isn't that incredible? There's the lovely Viv and Stephen and the entire team. If you want to see the other version of this shot with Air Burton making, um, his approach for the landing, please do look at my Facebook, uh, the FHumpire's Facebook cover photo Uh, it's going to be sitting on that for a long, long time.
There you go. Okay. Um, what did it, what did I miss? Did I miss anything? Oh, I did do, so I did that talk for Wellington and I also did a talk after the tournament concluded for the North Harbor Hockey Association, which was fantastic as well, and oh my God, their facility, it, it just, it was Apparently, how many pitches are actually there?
1, 2, 3, 4, and then there was a 5th over there? Or am I, am I extending it a little bit? I mean, I just I couldn't believe it. And, and the clubhouse sat in between pitch one and two, which had varying degrees of, of, uh, seating available. And the clubhouse walls were moving, opening big sheets of glass. So on a good day, the clubhouse could literally be wide open, wide open to the two pitches.
And on a bad day, you can still see all the hockey out of both sides. Unbelievable. Like, Ooh, anyway, I'm not saying that's going to be my future home, but is it not going to be, who knows? Okay. Um, let's see. Where, where am I at with this? I just want to, okay, right. I think that wraps up New Zealand. Anybody else, anybody have anything that I missed?
One of the things that I did. Just want to talk a little bit about the coaching methodology that I used because people might be, um, interested in exactly what I'm trying to bring as an approach in these kind of tournaments because I'm very free in that kind of environment not to have to really be an assessor or anything like that.
It's not about generating reports and, and giving people grades and things like that, which is a Nobody likes that. What I like doing is coaching and giving people tools and strategies and information that they can take away and they can start to develop their own critical thinking about their own umpiring performances.
So, um, as you saw with the shot of hair, I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to go all the way back. So I spent a lot of time sitting up on this hill for on pitch two, and there was a similar, um, This hill was also behind pitch one because it had a magnificent view. And I think you can just sort of see there's, there's a white object that I'm looking into.
That's my Insta360 Go 3 camera. Hi Insta360. Do you want to sponsor FHumpires? Because what I was doing was recording either a portion, a half, or maybe an entire match. From an incredibly advantageous viewpoint and talking over what I'm seeing, just like I would for a debrief, but in real time, which makes it a little bit riskier because it's a pretty raw experience.
And sometimes there were times where I'd say something and say, Nope, take it back. That was brilliant. Absolutely. Oh, actually that didn't work. And I correct myself as I went, but. The idea being is that instead of just giving you some notes and talking to an umpire after a game, I can give you what could be, if I was allowed to, real time coaching.
What I'm seeing and, and if I were a player coach, I'd be yelling out to the players on the pitch. And telling them at halftime and telling them in quarter time and telling the bench before they go into the game. And the, the, the constriction of our, our lack of communication is, is really a challenge that I'm sort of trying to work through to see if there's something else that we can do.
Can we approach this in a different way to find a way that I can give some real time coaching to, into a game? Cause man, that would be, it would be great. So if you have ideas about that, throw them in the comments, let me know what you think. Uh, and the only problem being is that, um, New Zealand intranet in a lot of places isn't as fast as what I'm used to here in Canada and especially in Calgary.
So I wasn't able, and I, I think I broke Google drive. I just broke it. Because I have about 500 gigabytes of files in the trash. Because it's like, lost and found. Luckily, don't worry, it's all backed up. So I'm still working on, for those of you who are waiting for your games, I'm sorry, but they are all uploaded now.
And I just have to send out notes to all of you saying, this is where you can go find them and you can go listen. So it'll be really interesting to hear feedback from folks and hear what worked in that approach. And perhaps what Didn't work as much with that approach, so that'll be really interesting.
Jump scare. Oh, come on. Don't give me that. Our selfie was great. I'm really pants at taking photos. I don't, especially when I'm in them. So I just took selfies at the hotel after when we were done. Um,
Look,
I feel things very deeply, but the good news is it's about, you know, it's about discomfort.
Okay. Anyway, there we're at. That is the New Zealand hockey masters and my amazing shirt. This amazing shirt. Hi. Still want that hoodie. Morrison, I want that hoodie. Just saying. Um, Yeah, that might be dangerous. I wouldn't recommend anything like that. Look, I hope that the whole reason that it's recorded and that you can watch it afterwards is that you're not in the moment.
So hopefully you can take the comments and. You're in the right space in order to digest everything. And I hope you'll see like, Mike, did you, did I, I wasn't able to send you that. Like there were times in that game where I was saying, This is it! You're doing it! Oh my god! And I'm getting really, really, really excited because what I want to see and what I'm talking about, maybe in not as positive terms, I bring right back when I see it.
I get really, really fucking excited. So, you hear all of that emotion because that is how I umpire coach. Just like I would coach players. In fact, I'm more calm when I coach players. Huh. Except when good stuff happens and then I just jump up and down and, and I'm like, look at the effin hockey! And I get really excited.
Um, holy smokes. Okay. Yeah, that's what we're going to get to in a second. Don't, don't, don't. Let's just, let's just take a moment. I have some flowers, friends. I have flowers to give out because people did cool stuff over the last month. First of all, Bruce Prendergrast, Prendergast, I don't think I said that right.
Sorry.
Just went and got his level one assessment. Bruce is part of our FHU3T green. Which, and, it's fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. Oh, oh, and we'll, we'll see what happens here. Because not only did Bruce go get his level one, but so did Alexander Taylor. And wait,
hold please.
And this was the comment on Discord, which I absolutely loved. I'm just, I'm just gonna put it up here. And there he is. He blames, whoops.
Okay, this is challenging because everything's overlapping and I can't, I can't harness the stop it. Anyway, you can see it. He blames Wooda Plainstain. I blame Whaddup Wednesday, too. Also, congratulations. That's bloody amazing. And, I wanted to draw some attention to Ryan's achievement here. He's been named as a finalist.
He's been nominated and selected as a finalist for the Stuart Mitchell Award for Official in Sport. Ryan, it was so confetti. It was so amazing to be able to watch you umpire, because Ryan's not part of our YOLO group. So I hadn't been able to debrief him yet and to see him in person and all the great stuff he did was just super, super fun.
So Ryan, awesome work. Really proud of you, but it doesn't end there. Oh no, friends. Hattie Wood.
I love firing that button so much. Oh, that's not going to work.
Hattie Wood has passed to her level three, officially a National League MPA umpire in England. Hattie, very well done to you. Hattie and I have spent some time in conversations, just sort of off piste as it were. McCartney taught me that phrase, off piste.
And super proud of Hattie's achievement there. And I mean, it was all over the socials and I ain't mad. Anwar, what? Also achieving. His level three and pictured, oh, okay. Yeah, I'll go back to it in a sec, but he's pictured with another yellow member here, Mike Farmer, who's also a national league umpire, who I quote very often because he's also a coach of a supreme side in regional play.
And so he can bring this coaching perspective to his umpiring and, and taught me a couple of things the last time I was over in England. So congratulations, but just, just to go back to this, um, I'm unaware who the gentleman on the far left is, but Hattie Simon Milford, I believe was his, was Hattie's colleague for this match.
And then it's Steve Godwin Godders. I mean, just a legendary collection of just a triplet, a trio, A triad of FHU3T, just amazing. Anyway, hi, just a little excited. Let's see what was happening on all this. Um, yeah, I was super uncomfortable a lot. I mean, it was nice to have folks that I knew and I felt very comfortable with, but I was working with brand new people in a brand new environment.
I'd never been part of a master's tournament before. I didn't know what to expect. Brand new tournament director and officials and all kinds of stuff. And, and the weather, I'm not talking about the weather, not at all. Yeah. Awesome news for everybody. Yes. Coach with South Prem one with Staines. Thanks Godders.
Love it. Lord Godders. Hmm. Okay. I'm not sure if we're going to go that far because his head is going to swell. We got to be really careful. Okay. Let's talk about the next thing that kind of happened. There is a time at Bandcamp where, um, wait, this, this button. Oh no. Look, geez. Okay. There was some touring around in New Zealand and I just want to send a big shout out to my amazing, excellent friend, Tracy Wrigley.
Now, Tracy and I umpired together at the 20, 2005 Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile. That was the only tournament that we were able to umpire together after meeting in Sydney in 2003. And an FIH promising young umpire seminar. I don't know what I was promising to do, but we were promising to wreck stuff.
That's all I'm saying. And Tracy and I spent a week together, touring around the North part of New Zealand. Again, the theme of being uncomfortable. This is me repelling or abseiling, abseiling? My dad corrected my pronunciation on the German word. As he does. This is me going down into the cave with the black abyss rafting tour.
And despite that expression on my face, I want to assure you that I was more than a little bit uncomfortable. I don't like enclosed spaces. I don't like being deep underwater. I don't like being in caves. I don't like too many layers of bed linen over my head. I don't like to be confined. Nobody puts Keely in a corner.
And I was actually really scared shitless at this moment. And again, it's about just embracing what this kind of experience can do to you, as a human being. And uh, here Tracy and I are, you know, in, in the cave, glow worms abound, you know, we're swimming, we're, We're, we're walking on hugely silpy rocks. I bit it, like, I think about four times.
Cause I'm just not, you know, my, my legs just don't work the way that they used to with these bionic knees. And I, it was, it was scary in, in many, many occasions, but I did it. But speaking of which, Tracy. Also did the same thing. We're walking here on some 28 meter high bridges throughout the Redwood Forest in the, is it the Waitopa region?
I'm sure, or is it Waitamu? Um, Tracy's Scared of Heights. And when she told me about this Redwood Forest tour, I was like, Oh, I really want to do, Oh, but no, it's okay. It's okay. You know, it's, it's chill, but, but she, she did it. She did it. She just walked right up there and she, she did the same thing as me.
She just plastered a smile on her face to give her brain the body signal that everything was okay. And by like the second or third bridge, she's like, I'm going to look over the side. Okay, Tracy, you do you, you do you, nut bar. And that was just sort of part of the whole thing. Again, more motif. Let's do this.
This is Mike McCartney and I on the Sealy Tarn, one of the lookout points. This is not even anywhere near the top of where I went. And McCartney, I sent him on his own to go even higher. But this, I, is this Mount Cook in the background, McCartney? Or no, I can't, I can't remember. It's one of the mountains.
Anyway, bloody gorgeous, right? Just incredible. But again, I haven't been hiking since I got my knees done. And here I was with a very fit, active outdoors person, 10 years, my junior, who has his original knees, by the way, and, um, you know, I, I, I just went for it. I, and it was an incredible experience. I rewarded myself afterwards.
That's actually, I believe that is Mount Cook right there in the background. And I'm having some charcuterie and a lovely beverage to celebrate after three and a half hours of climbing up and down and just waiting for Mike at the bottom. But I really want to thank Mike for helping me and supporting me and just pretending everything was chill.
When it really wasn't, um, in a lot of ways, he took this shot, this is up on top of, um, near the top of the Remarkables. outside of Queenstown. And Mike took some amazing shots, If you haven't seen his Facebook, uh, you know? Sorry, you better be friends with him because he shared some amazing, amazing stuff, including, uh, just drone footage like you wouldn't believe and super, super awesome footage.
Um, fun with that. Oh yes. And Godders, I, you did get me 15 minutes before going live and I'm so sorry, but I'm going to do this on Wednesday to re mention and put up a picture, if I can find one, of our Tim Clay. Passed his level three assessment. Oh, it works.
But yes, we'll obviously get there. Um, let's see. You're back from your stand up. You haven't heard anything for 20 minutes, but yes, the pictures. The pictures are pretty dope. Um, yes, this was something that happened when we were going up the Sealy Tower and it was, uh, Yeah, um, a person, unfortunately, who was walking or hiking on their own and got into some distress, but I understand that they're, when they were, by the time they were being airlifted, they were fine.
So that's great news. Um, what? You're the one who brought the hat, Mike. That's on you. Okay. Just saying. Oh, yes, please. Do send me a photo. Okay. Um, Our adventures for McCartney and I continued. This is from Geraldine On the South Island, we witnessed, like we just happened to stop for dinner and there was a sheep shearing competition.
So of course we stayed and watched and it was amazing. Got some footage from that. Just very cool and ENTSERREEL! Um, this is in the Rootburn, um, the Rootburn walk, hike, ramble, whatever it's called. Um, what was the region called again, Mike? I can't remember. Glenorchy? In Glenorchy, near Queenstown. Another amazing walk that, um, walk, ramble, hike that Mike and I did.
And the opportunity to see some of the most gorgeous places in the universe. And that's saying a lot because just about an hour that, that way, straight back that way, we have the Rocky Mountains and our mountains are gorgeous too. But this is also just incredibly gorgeous and the opportunity to be able to see all this because it, because hockey gets you off your butt and gets you going and doing things that you don't think you can do.
Uh, and I'm really cold here. We're on a boat and it's cold. The Glenorchy Root Bird Truck. Did I get pretty close? There you go. Yep. Mike's photos are amazing. Don't tell too many people, please. Speaking on behalf of the locals and those who want to come back. We're going back, aren't we? We are definitely, definitely going back.
So that recaps all of New Zealand. I feel like it's a slideshow of all the things, but guess what? There was another thing that happened. Oh goodness. I'll come back to this cause I wanted to show you. This is my. Media, this is my credentials for the indoor Pan Am Cups that we hosted here in Calgary on Soutina Nation land.
As many of you have found out, it's on the southwest corner of the city. Just take the number two stony trail.
Again, um, I'm not going to lie. I was disappointed to not get the appointment as the umpire manager for this tournament. I wanted it. I wanted it. And I felt like I had a good shot, because I had been the umpire manager for the Canada US Test Series last year in Toronto, and momentum seemed to be building in that respect, and But it just wasn't to be.
So, I found out that I wasn't doing that tournament just prior to leaving for New Zealand, and then a couple days into the Masters, I got a text, and then an email, asking if I'd be interested in doing commentary for the indoor Pan Am Cups. Like, on the livestream. Like, play by play or color, or whatever, and I was like,
This is something I put out into the universe for the first time last year. It was September, was it September? No, it was April last year when I was in England. And I popped by the England Hockey Premier League Finals in Surbiton. I was there with Simon Milford and Nick and a few other third team folk and showed up first thing in the morning and Nick Irvine's there and he's doing the commentary.
Um, but he's You know, he's getting ready and it's just before the first game of the day, the bronze. Women's match and I was like, oh, I want to go say hi to him, but I bet he's busy. And then it was about three minutes before game time. And I thought, I got to go wish him happy birthday. It would be awful.
And I know he's going to be busier later. So went up to him. I gave him a big hug and wished him happy birthday. And he said, Oh, hey, I don't have a co commentator for this game. They haven't shown up. So would you do this with me three minutes before game time? And I'm like, okay, put it on the headphones, mic boom, all that kind of stuff.
I got so much wrong. I was so jet lagged. I was. Not the brightest human being on the planet that day, but I stumbled through it and I said to Nick, I thanked him because this is something that I've wanted to try doing. I want to get involved in commentary. And it just seemed like it just all, like, Came together in that respect.
And then, and then, yeah, and then this, this happened. So let me get back to the scene in this. So keynote. I'm not excited at all. That's Kevin Underhill, uh, who is, I believe his official title is media coordinator, unbelievably fantastic human being there to my left. That is the commentary position from which myself and Phil have no, we're working from.
throughout the tournament. That's the view that we had. I showed that off on the socials there, and it was amazing. It was a little tough to see the numbers sometimes from that were on the opposite side of the court, but You could see where the ball was going to go before it was going to go there. You could see the spaces being opened up and, and who was running and who wasn't and, and where the pace was.
And it was just an incredible vantage point for the entire tournament. And I mean, y'all know me, I kind of set things up with a lot of tech. I had a mix of old school and new school in terms of when I was taking notes. During the games and I had two monitors and my MacBook in the middle and all this kind of stuff and it was just Oh, just an incredible thing.
Four days of non stop hockey and My fridge still looks like this. This was me getting ready on Friday night to To de diffuse, to de yeah, I'll say diffuse, to settle down after the four days of the tournament. And yeah, just sitting back with tea. We had a dump of snow, like a huge dump of snow, um, as the tournament started, which much to the delight of the Guyanians and the Trinnies, they were super excited to see that.
The rest of us were like, oh man. The Argentinians, now they all come from the South. We were Of the country. So they get winter big time. In fact, most, well, not most, I'll say maybe 50 percent of the players from both the men's and the women's sides come from a city called Ushuaia, which is the southernmost city in the world.
So from the equator going that way on the globe thing, Ushuaia, it's there. So you bet your bottom dollar, they get some snow there. So I don't think they were all that interested in seeing, um, what was, what was happening there. But, there you go, um, I don't, I haven't been able to debrief myself because the watch.
hockey matches were geoblocked in Canada, and then they were carried by Uh, match for you within Canada, but they only had the broadcast up during the games, during which time I was kind of busy actually doing the games. I had it up on one of the monitors so I could see something maybe, you know, 20 seconds after, uh, in case I wanted to revisit it on the commentary, but I couldn't hear myself because nobody wants to hear themselves 20 seconds after they've said something.
That's just, That'll just, well, F with your mind, unbelievably, but I had an amazing time. I was excited, not nervous. We talk about this, right? When you feel that tension in your stomach and your palms are getting sweaty with your mom's spaghetti and all that stuff, you can choose. To interpret that in your brain, that you're nervous or all those same physical symptoms are the same things that you feel when you're excited.
And I encourage everyone to use their brains, the most magnificent weapon we have as human beings to decide that we are excited, which gives us a whole different mindset going into these kinds of experiences. So I was extremely excited. Going into the week, and the first day was kind of shit, I'm not gonna lie.
It was not good. Don't, don't go back and watch those games. Wait, like go to day four, because the last day, the final between USA and Argentina was unbelievable. So if you're gonna watch any game from that tournament on replay, that's the one to watch. Unbelievable skill. It was 5 5 at the end. I'm not going to tell you who won.
It's all over social media. You can find out. Also the semi final between Trinidad and Tobago and the USA men. Another fantastic game. Extremely exciting, different feel, but boy, um, just incredible. Spoil I won't give you any spoilers on that one too. Um, yeah, just, just amazing. Just amazing. So if I sound different now, after four days of, of, Not swearing?
No, not once. Where is it? Where is the comment? Oh, that was, it wasn't what I told him.
Mike, yes, the lack of F bombs was a shock to everyone, but I went, oh, for days.
Squirrel can't hang with the big dog, stay on the porch, blow the whistle. Yeah, I'm really proud of that. Really, really proud of that. And I feel like I'm talking like a different human being now. So if we're in person and you're like, Keely, can you just ditch the radio voice? I'll be like, yeah, sure. Sorry.
Okay. I'll, I'll do my best. Um, good to know. You want to watch some more indoors, Stefan, so you will watch, watch the replay. Yep. Those are the, those are two fantastic games or like any time the Argentinian men were playing, they were ridiculous. They were ridiculous. Um, yeah, that, that's not even a funny joke anymore.
Just kidding. It's all good. Um, yes. Nervous energy versus nervous breakdown. Use the nervous energy to get excited. Absolutely. Okay. That's done. Two. Oh my God. I always think I'm going to be fast. And I'm not.
Um. Right.
Let's talk about the future. Let's talk about what is happening next week. Oh my gosh. EHCO trophy. Second edition, season two. We are absolutely stoked to be working with the EHCO folks again. When we did this last year, it was basically on three weeks notice because I had a group of folks that were all ready to travel over to watch the EHL.
And we were going to do a whole development thing and just kind of drink a lot and, you know, have a great time and, and learn. There were going to be many, many learns. And then three weeks beforehand, I got contacted and asked if we could actually provide both the umpires and the technical officials for the tournament.
And I asked everybody and they said, yeah, let's do it. And so bam, we were the team and I've said it dozens of times. But I could not have been more proud of how these folks stepped up and served the tournament just to such an excellent level. It was, it was just, I, yeah, I don't have any more words. I used them all last week.
All the words used. We are back to do it again this year. And oh, that's, yeah, that's this girl. More of Mike and, you know, In that way, but there's Anwar and I mean, here's the thing is that people are engaging in these opportunities and getting more experience and getting some coaching and exposing themselves, taking chances, being vulnerable, trying things and like Anwar, getting results.
Level three assessed, right? Doing the work and this is part of it. I'm, I'm really, really proud of it. So the schedule, I'm getting it up now. It'll be in the discord server and I'll put a subscription link. If you want to be able to subscribe to the Google calendar. And see what's happening, but it's definitely going to be the center for all of the, uh, actual team that's going there.
The tournament is twice as big this year. It is 16 teams, 8 on each side of the draw. And our team is big. Bigger, but actually not by as much as I would have wanted because people unfortunately have had to withdraw for a variety of reasons. So we are going to be very, very busy. I'm really delighted that I've got returnees like Kat and Mike and Mike and whoops, that's not the, the button I wanted to press in that moment.
And Anwar, Steve Godders, Steve Godders, Godders and Jamal from the East coast of Canada here are going to be joining me on the umpire management team. Got Sebastian Archbold, uh, hopefully Simon Milford. I think Hattie Wood is going to be involved. Luke Dawkin, of course, is going to be heading up the technical officiating team and we're just, I mean, it's just going to be fantastic.
Um, Vigar is going to join us for the first time. Maria, um, Juust. Henry Beardsall. It's, it's just going to be a fantastic experience. Can't wait. Hopefully everybody else will do the social media for me because clearly I can't be trusted. I cannot be trusted with this. Matches for us start on Friday. So I'm flying out tomorrow night to the UK.
I'm going to take a day there to de jet lag myself. And then I'm hopping in a car with McDowell and Anwar and Rochelle, and we're driving over to Amsterdam. And then the tournament itself will start on Friday. We're going to get the chance to take in a bunch of the EHL matches on Thursday. And yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be a thing.
If you have any questions about, you know, all this kind of stuff, just shoot them in the comments, because as you can tell, I'm winging it. I'm winging it. Um, yeah. Well, I'm not ditching it now. I'm live. I'm supposed to sound all sophisticated, right?
Um, your clipboard of doom. Niels, yes, Niels is going to be joining us, which I'm very happy. And yes, um, every team needs a director of dance. Godders is director of dance. God, I just, I don't touch my hair nearly as much anymore, right? Okay, I have been today because it's really greasy and it's gross, but I've been better, right?
Who knows? Okay, um, after that, this, this is a short one because I ran out of time to prepare, but I like that picture. It's nice when you have a picture that you're like, I look pretty good. After the EHCO trophy is over, I'm going back to the UK and for 10 days, I am going to be doing a series of talks.
Now I've looked at the schedule and I only have a few days open now. I think we're looking at here. Let me, let me pull up the dates for you because I'm sure everybody cares.
So I'm getting back in on the second. And if I, if I need to do something on the second, I will, but I kind of probably need a day to rest after each CO. On Wednesday, I'm going to be somewhere in the Midlands waiting for confirmation on that one, Thursday at the St. Ives hockey club. And which one is which, which one is this?
This is the St. Ives hockey club one. And then. Yes. Uh, Oh, that's the eighth that's coming up on Friday night. I'm going to be working with the Cambridge Talent Academy and we're going to be doing something really cool. Paul Denny Goldson is an absolute dynamo of organization and energy and just incredibly passionate about developing, um, his players in all respects.
So we're going to be doing like an umpiring jamboree where we're going to Putting whistles in the hands of some young folk for the first time. And I'm using the umpires who are within that system already. They're 15, 16, maybe 17 years old at the most. And they're going to be leading the group. So I can't wait for that.
That's going to be an absolute blast. On the 6th, I'm going to be at Holcombe. And that's during the day on the Saturday doing some umpire coaching. I don't know. William's got this all set up. So I'm there doing all the things. Sunday, I'm free. So if you're not that far away from ChexNotes, Holcomb and Keensham.
This is, this is, Keensham, Kensham. Look, it's hard to go from trying to speak Māori to, um, thinking about Spanish pronunciation of names as I've been doing for the Pan Am Cup to speaking British, but this will be at the 8th and I'm excited about that one. And then. On the Wednesday at Havant, at Havant Hockey Club.
Thursday at East Grinstead, Friday night I'm free. So it's your last chance. So there are, there are, yeah, two days, two days, Sunday the 7th and
Friday the 12th. So if you're a club and you want me to come talk, you better get in touch soon because dang, it's full. That is going to be the jam for the UK tour. After that is over, I am going to be doing some touring of the UK. The UK with my padre, uh, John Dunn is going to be coming over and I'm going to be picking him at the airport and we're going to go up north and see Fam.
And then I'm taking him to the FA semi final cup game between, um, a little team that you may have heard of called Coventry. My dad's a big Man U fan. We're going to Man U and Coventry at Wembley. So that's my last week in the UK and then I'm going home and then I'm going to die.
That's what's coming up for FHumpires, for the FHU3T, and that's what's been happening over the past month. It's just been amazing. I want to thank absolutely everybody at Hockey New Zealand for their great support. Absolute, for their taking of care of me, of the visiting FHU3 team members, of everyone in their community.
What a beautiful example for all of us to learn from. How we can be more caring and responsible and accountable to each other with how we do the hockey. I want to thank Field Hockey Canada and the Pan Am Federation for putting me in a position where I could apply my voice to help present the indoor Pan Am Cups.
Last week it was a true honour, it was a magnificent challenge, and Haley Yap, Kevin Underhill, Susan Aarons, And so many other folks that made that possible. My co commentator, Phil Hignell, thank you so much for everything in that, EHCO is going to be amazing on Wednesday, Leandro Martinez. And I think Fabrizio and Demachi are going to join me on what up Wednesday.
And we're going to talk about EHCO a little bit more as well as do some clips. So if you have clips for me, bring them, get them, come in the discord, DM me with Because I've been getting a few over the last four weeks and been like, yeah, future Keely problem. And I think I lost them all. So you might need to send them again to me and I will do my best to get to those after we have that conversation with Landro and Fabrizio, I think.
And then UK, we're, we're doing some talks. We're doing some of the talky things. So if you live in the area of any of those locations, you check Facebook, check the FHumpires Facebook. If you're in our discord server, I'm going to be posting those as events. So that if you're close by, I would love, love, love to see you.
I would, it just means so much to me to be able to connect with people in real life. I don't fly thousands of kilometers, so I can't see the people who matter the most to me. So get your butts out there. Let's connect. Let's talk. Let's hug. Let's hug it out. Let's hug it out. I will look for some more comments as I'm wrapping this up.
Um, Cainsham. Really? Why?
Why are you so difficult? Why are you so difficult? Um, what about a quick leg over the northern border? Not this time. Not this time, friend. But we will sort that out very soon. So Ben, here's a job for you. You get back and you go to your friends, you call up Duncan and, and all the other folks, Sarah at Scotland, Scottish hockey, and, and everybody who's part of that association and say, you know what, Keely will come up and talk and she talks for free.
I talk for free. Free, they're free. Okay. Well, I, I kind of like it when people buy me drinks, but otherwise it's free.
And just, I'm just trying to share the love, the knowledge, share the word, get to know people more and build up what we're doing with FHumpires. So you can be part of that. Oh, you don't. I'm going to the Midlands. I'm going to the Midlands, but these are the people. Who try,
so make it happen. You don't like it, fix it. I feel like that Feng Shui guy. Stop whining. Don't like it, fix it. He's really good on YouTube. Unfalteringly superb hospitality from start to finish. Yep. Unbelievable. And you're going to be watching that in the airport on Wednesday night, probably. Go on Keely, ask everyone in the next F What Up Wednesday, how to have a penalty corner outside the 23 meter area.
New Zealand people keep quiet. What is happening? And you will sort when you get back. Good news. Okay. Thank you all for joining in. It was really nice to be able to bring you this. And I know it's not the usual. Fodder. It's not the usual day. It's not the usual anything, but it was really important for me to be able to acknowledge all the people that have made the last month happen and what we're about to do for the next month.
It's going to be really incredible. Um, thank you, Niels. And we will see all of you back, hopefully on Wednesday, and we will see a bunch of you at the EHCO. It's going to be amazing. Oh my God. See you soon. Bye.
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