Over the last few weeks two Scottish international umpires were awarded for their development and contribution to the sport at two prestigious ceremonies in their homeland.
FIH Umpire Sarah Wilson was recognised for her success in 2016 at the Scottish Women in Sport awards where she won the 'Official of the Year' award.
The former international age group player became an umpire after sustaining an injury and has since moved on to be one of the world’s leading umpires.
In 2015 she umpired the finals of the women's Unibet EuroHockey Nations Championship in London, England and later that year was appointed to officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Sarah is one of the youngest umpires to be appointed to the Olympics and was the only female umpire to represent Great Britain in Rio. Sarah’s Olympics culminated in her umpiring the bronze medal match - the highest level that she could reach as Great Britain were competing in the gold medal match.
Meanwhile, fellow Scot and umpire Martin Madden won the Sports Council for Glasgow Official of the Year award. The ceremony was held at the City Chambers in Glasgow on 14 November.
Martin has had a hugely successful year during which he became the 39th man to receive an International Hockey Federation (FIH) Golden Whistle for umpiring 100 senior international matches. Martin reached the milestone while umpiring at the Rio Olympic Games, with Netherlands v India his 100th match umpiring senior internationals.
Martin became an international umpire in 2000, and reached Grade 1 two years later. He umpired the Hockey Champions Trophy in 2012, became a World Panel umpire in 2014, umpired at the 2014 World Cup in the Hague, Netherlands and was one of the 17 men in the umpiring team for the men’s Olympic event in Rio.
Martin’s Rio experience came to a climax with him umpiring the bronze medal match between Netherlands and Germany. Speaking about this latest award Martin said: “It’s a huge honour to be awarded Official of the Year. It’s been a fantastic year and to be honoured with an award at the end of it is brilliant. I’m delighted.”
Speaking of these achievements, FIH President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra said: "These awards are yet further evidence of the progress being made in regards to the FIH's 10-year Hockey Revolution strategy, with one of the key aims focused on increasing the degree of professionalism across all levels of the game. On behalf of the hockey family, I would like to offer sincere congratulations to Sarah and Martin, two leading role models not only within their own country but also internationally. I'm sure these awards will inspire many more people to get involved in officiating hockey."
To find out more about the Hockey Revolution click here.
For more information about Scottish hockey, click here.
Watch an exclusive video with Sarah Wilson from the women's Hockey Junior World Cup 2016 in Santiago, Chile:
