AFL UMPIRE MENTOR PROGRAM MANUAL - AFL Community

Tips for mentoring at a distanceExtract adapted from Australian Sports Commission – Making Mentors, 2002.While the principles of good communication still apply when mentoring at a distance, thereare unique issues that need to be considered when you cannot meet the young umpireface-to-face.You may have little knowledge of the umpire and his or her strengths orweaknesses. Start by taking time to get to know them better – get them to tell you aboutthemselves. Ask them what they feel are their strengths and weaknesses and what theywould like to work on as an umpire.Make sure you tell them a little about yourself as well. You might even like to sendthem a video of yourself coaching or umpiring so they can observe your style and approach.You might have started the process by doing this – giving the umpire something he or shecan look at and reflect on.Remember that you (and the umpire) will have no body language to help youunderstand the meaning of the message you are imparting. We rely heavily on bodylanguage to help us decipher the meaning of face-to-face communication. When mentoringat a distance, you will not have the aid of these extra cues and the implied meaning theyadd to communication. Therefore, you should start conservatively (or at least until you knowthe umpire better) in your communication. Don’t be the first to use humour, as humour canbe very culturally specific and may cause confusion or offence. Instead, listen for the style orhumour used by the umpire and try to mirror that.44UMPIRE MENTOR PROGRAM MANUAL