Waihī netball umpire Connor Pascoe was “over the moon” when he was given the opportunity to take the next shot in his umpire journey.
The Waihī resident, who has umpired at Waihī Netball Centre since he was nine years old, told The Profile he was scheduled to umpire a televised match between the Mystics Men’s and Stars Men’s at the Trusts Arena in Auckland on May 6.
The match was a Sky Sport-broadcasted curtain raiser for the Northern Mystics vs Southern Steel match in the ANZ Premiership.
“I went over to umpire a premier competition in Tauranga [on April 27] and my coach and umpire lead, Pam Clayton, came up to me and we had a bit of a discussion about it and she asked ‘would I like to go up to Auckland… and do this game?’,” he said.
“I was over the moon getting asked because what an awesome opportunity to be introduced to that higher level.
“At the start of this year, I was also fortunate enough to be selected for the national watchlist, so there’s a group of umpires that are there which New Zealand sees potential in to work towards the ANZ Premiership.” The 23-year-old, who also umpires weekly Tauranga Netball Centre matches, said his biggest umpire stint before the match between Mystics Men’s and Stars Men’s was at the New Zealand Men’s Netball Nationals held in Christchurch in August last year.
“I ended up being appointed to the A grade final for that tournament and that was awesome, an amazing experience,” he said.
“I did it with an amazing umpire from Australia who had come over and it was just awesome, I really enjoyed it even though I was wrecked after it. It was a fast and high intensity game.
“We’ve got some national tournaments coming up so I’m hoping to get appointed to those and other than that… look forward to what the season brings.”
Connor said he also played goal attack and centre for the Waihī-based Tane Toa men’s netball team between 2019 to 2022.
