Association History

SUAACT was founded in 1965 as the Women's Softball Umpires Association of the Australian Capital Territory, as the ACT's peak umpiring body affiliated with the then-ACT Women's Softball Association.  In 1974, following the renaming of ACTWSA to the ACT Softball Association, WSUAACT renamed itself to the Softball Umpires Association of the ACT, the name it bears to this day.

Executive Committee history

Committee structure

SUAACT's first committee consisted of President Ernie Kitchener, Vice-President Norma Jurd, and Secretary-Treasurer Dane Dahlberg. The President acted as SUAACT's administrative director, chair, and representative to Softball ACT and Softball Australia and the Secretary-Treasurer fulfilled duties, as you might suspect, of both Secretary and Treasurer until the constitution was restructed in the 2000/2001 season.

From 2000/01 until 2015/16, the SUAACT President and the national representative role alternatively known as State Director of Umpiring or ACT Chief Umpire were required to be different people. The 2000/01 constitutional change also created the role of Treasurer separate from Secretary.

Responsibility for umpire development and progression generally rested with the SDU, or the President during years when the two roles were combined, but it has not been unusual for this responsibility to be delegated to a senior umpire within SUAACT membership. From 1998/99 until 2000/01 (as Director of Examiners), and again from 2005/06 to 2007/08 (as Development Officer), this role was recognised by a separate position on the Executive Committee. Even in years where this was not done, the Executive Committee frequently appoints subcommittees of experienced and dedicated members who provide invaluable assistance.

Historically, Executive Committee members would serve for one-year terms. In 2016, in an attempt to address the risk of losing experienced committees without succession planning, SUAACT decided to switch to overlapping two-year terms, with President and Secretary elected in alternating years from the Vice-President and Treasurer. The 2016 constitutional update also confirmed that the President and the SDU could be the same person once again.

Committee personnel

Other key roles

Director of Examiners and Examination Panels

For the first several years after softball began in the ACT, there was no capability for assessments and promotions to be handled locally, and so the Victorian Softball Umpires Association provided examination services to the ACT.

SUAACT set up its first examination panel in 1971.  Since then, SUAACT have maintained an internal examination capability led by senior umpires and, wherever possible, consisting of SAL-accredited assessors.

The SUAACT assessment process differs from the national programme in that assessments are not wholly done at State Championships.  The first ACT State Championship was not held until 1978, and the last State Championship took place in 2011.  When an ACT State Championship of the appropriate level was held, it was used for assessments.  Otherwise, SUAACT have managed assessments using other tournaments of equivalent level of play, such as the Australia Day Carnival, Canberra Skins B Grade, and ADF Games, or simply used league games of the appropriate level.

Since 2016, SUAACT considered that it was no longer practicable to assess members at Level 4 using appropriately-levelled local games.  We are grateful for the assistance of the Softball New South Wales Umpires Association and Queensland Softball Umpires Association , who invited our members to their Open State Championships to complete their assessments there.

The table below lists the senior umpires who made up the examination panel for each season.  Often one member of the panel was appointed Director of Examiners, and this role would assist the SDU/President by ensuring that all candidates were examined by the appropriate assessors, that assessments were completed, feedback provided properly, and all paperwork done.  Where the person holding this role is known, they are highlighted in bold.