The Australian Sports Commission has announced 20 high performance officials in nine sports who are being fast tracked for professional development as recipients of the National Officiating Scholarship Program for 2009. 

Some of Australia’s best and most talented officials will benefit from the same professional mentoring, coaching and support available to elite athletes thanks to the NOSP initiative.

The program, now in its seventh year, aims to fast-track and develop Australia’s most talented high performance officials through a dedicated program of professional development for the individual that engages both the Australian Sports Commission and the national sporting organisation.

‘The National Officiating Scholarship Program provides scholarship officials with professional and highly specialised support, combined with expert mentors from their sport,’ said Greg Nance, Director of Sport Performance and Development at the Australian Sports Commission.

The 12-month program also involves valuable experience in officiating at national and international events backed by sports science support services.

Nance said the program for 2009 has evolved, with the Australian Football League (AFL) and Netball Australia introducing high performance officiating academies.

‘AFL and Netball have introduced high performance officiating academies as an extension of the individual National Officiating Scholarship Program, as a way of further developing more high performance officials in their sport. This demonstrates the value in national sporting organisations and the ASC working collaboratively on sports development,’ said Nance.

Among the 2009 scholarship officials is former international cricketer Paul Reiffel, who returns to international cricket as an umpire. Reiffel is a member of the International Cricket Council panel of umpires and he can be appointed in the third umpire role for Tests and one-day internationals.

‘I’m looking forward to being part of the scholarship program, with the support of Cricket Australia and the Australian Sports Commission,’ Reiffel said.

‘Not only will I benefit from a personalised plan for 2009, it will also develop a base of support for my long-term development in umpiring.’

The officials and mentors in the program will meet together as a group for the first of a number of professional development workshops in February 2009.

The scholarship recipients for 2009 are: Brett Kronk, Paul Barron, Matthew Brown, Shaun Gleeson, Toby Medlin, Scott McPhee and Simon Walker (AFL); Camron Jones (Basketball); Paul Reiffel and Steven John (Cricket); Stephen Toth (Football); Joshua Bowring, Jemma Carlton, Tara Gregory, Marc Henning and Peta Quinn (Netball); Timothy Wills (Rugby Union); David Gregory (Swimming); Shannon Walding (Tennis) and Robert Szydlowski (Volleyball).