THREE-TIME Golden Rivers Football League senior grand final boundary umpire, Melissa Sambrooks is one step closer to her goal of umpiring Australian Football League matches.
The 17-year-old received notification on Tuesday she has been accepted to be part of the Victorian Football League boundary umpires panel, which officiate the TAC Cup, VFL Development series and the VFL.
The confirmation was the culmination of months of pre-season training for the first-year university student, who commuted from Kerang to Abbotsford’s Victoria Park twice a week for training sessions.
“Throughout pre-season it sits in the back of your mind that any time they can decide you’re not up to standard and may let you go, but I really have no words to explain the feeling when they read my name out at training,” Sambrooks said.
“It is safe to say it’s be a long journey and a lot of traveling with catching the train and leaving Kerang at 11.30am on Tuesday to get to training on time and Thursdays mum driving me.”
The Northern District Football Umpires Association nominated Sambrooks for the VFL selection tryouts, capping off a season that resulted in numerous milestones.
In the space of four months the former Kerang Technical High School student officiated in the AFL Victoria Country Championships for a second season, gained a spot on the AFL Victoria Country Umpire Leadership program and officiated her first two TAC Cup matches.
However, Sambrooks’ greatest highlight was officiating last year’s AFL Women’s exhibition game between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, which was televised live across Australia.
Preparations for tryouts began one month after Sambrooks ran the boundary during the Golden Rivers Football League senior grand final at Macorna, with the teenager completing a rigorous fitness program to get her ready for selections, which began in January.
“Training is like none I have ever done before with nine and 10-kilometre sessions, mostly hard efforts anywhere between one kilometre and 150 metres with short breaks and, if you’re lucky, every so often you get an easy session of eight kilometres, plus other sessions you are expected to do out of training,” she said.
“This is what’s required to perform at such a high standard and even though the sessions are tough and every so often the thought of ‘why am I doing this’ goes through my brain, it’s still very enjoyable and safe to say I really know the reason when I’m out on the ground on game day.”
Sambrooks’ first match as a VFL umpire will occur during the second round of the TAC Cup on Saturday, April 2.
“I would like to thank mum for driving me across the country side to games, training or whatever I wanted to make it; the NDFUA for the time I’ve umpired there helping me get experience I needed furthering my career in umpiring, and Rod Threlfall and Russel O’Toole from AFL Victoria for giving me many opportunities over the year to help me develop and see different standards of football,” she said.
