In Memoriam – Nigel Ray Young.
My good old friend and umpire coach Nigel Young passed away the 16th May 2009 after a long period of terrible illness
I first met Nigel during an indoor game in the mid-eighties in Copenhagen. He was at that time working for Chloride Denmark in Aalborg and was spending his spare time looking after Marselisborg Hockey Club from Aarhus in Denmark.
After the game I was umpiring, Nigel took me aside and told me I could become so much better… at that time a long friendship started that included hockey tournaments in Scandinavia and in the UK – even after Nigel moved back to Warrington in Cheshire.
As an umpire coach, Nigel was very analytical and started up by basically tearing the umpire Henrik apart and rebuilding him from the bottom. Nigel was fantastic doing that and we could spend hours discussing the optimal signals (the level of the hand, pointing/not pointing etc ) or how to position yourself on the pitch.
As the years flew by Nigel and I kept having our coaching sessions – either face2face or over the phone. He had numerous visits to Denmark, Norway and Sweden where he helped umpires develop as well as creating lasting friendships with a lot of hockey people. The Scandinavian hockey especially the umpire part can praise Nigel for a lot of the achievements made over the years. Numerous up-coming FIH umpires from that region have been through the “basic moulding” by Nigel, which he did so well.
Personally, I have a lot to thank Nigel for… I would not have achieved what I have without him and I am forever grateful for this. I have had a couple of high level internationals/EHL matches after Nigel’s passing away and every time I have entered the pitch, I have remembered him and his very analytical way of evaluating an umpire’s performance.
As a friend, Nigel was very loyal and you could always count on him telling you the exact truth and what he thought of a situation or performance.
Nigel will always be in my memory and I am forever thankful for his friendship and his support to my hockey umpire career.
Take care, my friend.
Henrik Ehlers
Copenhagen, Denmark | 
