Cordon Blue recipe
 Steve Jaspan (RSA), defined the role of the Competitions Committee – the organisation and administration that sits behind major events – and the appointment of the technical team, mixing experienced officials with developing officials. Steve referred to the Cordon Blue recipe to achieve the correct blend of the team  and the need for consistency – “to be playing to the same music sheet”.
 The seminar moved on to deal with matters before the appointment of the TD. Peter Cohen (AUS) dealt with the role of the FIH in terms of the host country’s contract  and the administration prior to the start of tournaments. Peter touched on the role of the FIH Liaison Officer who is appointed to monitor all arrangements prior to an event.
 Bob Davidzon (NED), with his vast experience which included the 1998 World Cup,  spoke on the organisational structure required by the host country and its observance of legal and contractual agreements. Adrien Peters, from the FIH office, talked about the information flow from Brussels.
 Eric Donegani (CAN) built his presentation around the technical team, explaining the role of the TD prior to and at the beginning of the tournament. He stressed the importance of contact with the other technical officials to establish shared responsibilities, citing  the Umpires Manager - to agree an approach to umpiring appointments, and  the Medical and Media Officers - to establish working relationships.
 The point was made that the uniform, equipment, passport and team list checks, have all been carried out before the manager’s briefing meeting at recent major events.

Fast balls
 David Whittle, the Great Britain team manager, asked delegates to think as a “team manager”, to identify what was important for the teams, and to understand the need to be fair, consultative and, where necessary, pragmatic.
 Whittle introduced delegates to cricket, some for the first time, as a game of fast balls (hockey questions) took place. Two teams, led by John Giles (AUS) and Wiert Doyer (NED), attempted to out-score each other. Some dubious decisions by the umpire, Ken Read (AUS), suggested the need for a third official!. David’s presentation received top marks from delegates.
 Janet Ellis (CAN) then dealt with the need for consistency at pitch side which team managers sought and officials at the technical table should try to deliver.
 Kathleen Watson (JAM) spoke of the role of the Medical Officer for all involved – players, officials, ground staff and spectators - and advised of two new manuals, one on Inclement Weather, the other on Ground Safety.

Contact with Media
 Nick Irvine (ENG), as ever, entertained. He described his experiences as Media Officer at the Champions Trophy in Amstelveen and at the Sydney Olympics. He encouraged TD’s to keep the media informed at all times but to be aware of the “off the record” comment. He regarded it as essential that the TD had the most recent media guidelines; had daily contact with the press and that the TD fully appreciated the role of the media and media centre. He suggested standing “a round of drinks” was much appreciated!
 A session on umpires and the Umpires’ Manager was chaired by Roger Self (ENG). As a member of the Competitions Committee and Umpires Committee Liaison Group, he emphasised the importance of TD’s understanding the development programme that had been established by the Umpires Committee. This, he felt, would lead to a better and more enlightened approach when making umpiring appointments at a tournament.
 Graham Nash (ENG) spoke in more detail on the Promising / Developing umpires list. He advised that it was crucial for marks and comments by the TD to be correctly recorded so that they could be used to shape these ongoing lists.
 Corrine Pritchard (NZ), in answering questions on the relationship between the TD and the Umpire’s Manager, expanded on the roles, especially when the UM might be more experienced than the TD.
 Alain Renaud (FRA), in inimitable fashion, provided a short interlude on consistency of rules interpretation!
 It was appropriate that the final presentation in this part of the programme was by Annabel Dillon (SIN), one of the TD’s at the Sydney Olympics. In offering delegates the challenge, “Are you the next Olympic TD”, she summarised the personal qualities necessary to manage the human and technical resources and to deliver the consistency and quality of management that major events now require.
 Two excellent presentations followed – one by Aaron Sher (on Information Technology) and the other by David Burt (The Importance of Presentation at Major Events). Both men provided a challenge for delegates to see the bigger picture. Interestingly delegates felt that each of these presentations could have benefitted a wider FIH audience.

Open Forum
 At the end of a long day, there was not much time for the Open Forum but Roger Self, Bob Davidzon and Graham Nash dealt with delegate’s questions which included coping with the unexpected and crisis management.
 Delegate feedback was naturally varied. Most considered it had been a very worthwhile exercise. Many felt that too much had been fitted into one day and that two days would have been better. Others suggested there had been repetition and not enough delegate inter-action. All, undoubtedly, enjoyed the “outsider” presentations from David Whittle, Aaron Sher, Nick Irvine and David Burt.
 Everyone seemed to accept the need to share information. While there is obvious requirement for more seminars of this nature,  a lot could be achieved  by developing the electronic communication from the FIH office. Tournament officials would then be kept better informed of many matters, such as the most recent developments, amendments to tournament regulations, and rule changes.
 Such information would lead to consistency at all tournaments. It would also open the way for dialogue. With-out a doubt, the time has surely come for a technical officials’ “chat line”.
(Italics)
 The report of the seminar will be available early in 2001. In conjunction with the Development and Coaching Committee it is hoped to incorporate many of the seminar outcomes and recommendations into training resources for technical officials.