On Saturday 6 April, an umpire course was conducted by the ITF Scotland Umpire Committee.
The course was a review of the most up-to-date rules for the World Championships and World Cup
events. Upon successful completion of the post course exam, this will allow participants to obtain an
ITF “C” class umpire certificate.
On behalf of the ITF Scotland Umpire Committee, the course presenters were:
Master David McNairn VIII Deg (Chair)
Mrs Jacqui Wallace V Deg
Mr John Munro V Deg
The course was held at the Gmac premises in Livingston, with 43 participants from various groups
within Scotland. The course began with Master McNairn welcoming the attendees and giving thank
to Grandmaster Gordon Wallace IX Deg (ITF Umpire Committee) for his attendance. GM Wallace was
also thanked for his work in the development of the IT Systems in ITF Scotland, assistance with course
material and for the preparation of the C-class exam for the course candidates. His wealth of
experience is a great asset to us all.
Mr Craig Rennie II Degree from the Tournament Committee was also thanked for his attendance in
setting up and providing IT System training for the participants. Mr Rennie has been working alongside
GMW for many years developing the system for use at our Scottish Championships and is now
regularly selected to participate at international events as an IT Umpire.
Master McNairn also introduced the Umpire team who would be presenting throughout the day, and
thanked the other members of the Tournament committee for their attendance – Mrs Lorna Singleton
III Deg (Chair) and Mrs Gillian McIlvaney VI Deg.
The course began with Master McNairn covering some of his and his fellow presenters’ experiences
over the years as international umpires, as an incentive for prospective international umpires to
follow. He then covered rules on pattern, team pattern and team pre-arranged sparring, along with
jury member and equipment verifier roles.
The course allowed participants to view presentations on the rules of competition for both World
Championships and World Cup events, along with practical demonstration of patterns and common
infractions to look for, with intermittent participation from the attendees to act as judges.
The morning session took the course up to 13:00, after which a 20 min break was allowed for lunch.
The afternoon session resumed with Mrs Jacqui Wallace taking the sparring and team sparring part of
the seminar. This section followed a similar format with presentations and practical demonstrations,
along with short videos to show how fast the action can be during sparring bouts, and how sharp the
corner judges, centre referee, jury president and IT umpire must be. Training was also done in points
scoring to work on reaction skills, with participants trying out the various roles as well as practicing
the electronic scoring system for each element. Participants also worked on centre referee hand signals and ring procedures.
The final part of the course was Power Test and Special technique, which was taken by Mr John Munro,
who went through the rules and regulations of this event at World Championship and World Cup level.
ITF Scotland recently purchased the ITF standard Special Technique Holder which was shown to the
participants and will be used at the upcoming Scottish Championships.
After completion of the last part of the course, the floor was given to GM Wallace to explain, for those
participants who wished to take the course exam, how the exam was going to work, and what the
pass mark would be.
In conclusion of the course, Master McNairn thanked everyone for attending, along with the various
teams and individuals for their invaluable assistance in providing the course material and allowing the
course to take place.
Thanks were given to:
Grandmaster Wallace for his input and support with his many years’ experience and knowledge of
international competition rules as a member of the ITF Umpire Committee.
To Mrs McIlvaney and Gmac for providing the course premises and refreshments.
To Mr Craig Rennie for setting up and training participants in the IT system, along with Mrs Lorna
Singleton & Mrs Gillian McIlvaney for their assistance (ITF Scotland Tournament Committee).
And finally, to Mrs Jacqui Wallace for her valuable input in the course material and presenting the
course along with Mr John Munro (ITF Scotland Umpire Committee).
ITF Scotland Umpire Committee
