Surrey Sports Park employee set to Umpire at European Netball Tournament

26 January 2012

Lisa Sumpter, Bookings Administrator at Surrey Sports Park, has recently been selected as an umpire for the U17 European Championships in Glasgow in March.

Lisa first umpired at the young age of 12, helping out a school with inter house matches, soon progressing to club level when she wasn’t playing herself. Seeing the game from both sides enabled her to develop a detailed understanding of the sport, even if playing and umpiring created some tricky conflicts at times.

Her selection for this year’s tournament comes after her successes while umpiring in the UK netball Premier League for a year and a half and travelling to Malta in 2010 for the European U17 Festival. Since then Lisa has been consistently supported by England Netball, her family and fellow umpires after displaying a talent for the role. Lisa retired from playing netball in December 2010 to allow her to concentrate on her umpiring, and this then she has gained her ‘A Award’, allowing her to umpire at a national level.

Talking about her selection Lisa said: “I was absolutely ecstatic to be asked to umpire at such a key and prestigious event. I couldn’t believe it! I am thoroughly looking forward to the opportunity and the ability to keep building on what I have learnt over the past few years.”

Everyone at Surrey Sports Park wishes Lisa the best in Glasgow and as she continues her umpiring career.