Fiji’s top umpires Litia Rabitu and Yvonne Vaka have obtained New Zealand umpires badges, a significant accomplishment in their officiating careers.
Rabitu was re-endorsed to NZ umpires C badge, while Vaka received her NZ Zone award this month.
The achievement opens up exciting opportunities for both umpires, allowing them to participate in overseas Netball Tournaments and contribute to the development of upcoming umpires in the country.
Rabitu said they were reviewed and monitored at all their games by New Zealand umpire coaches.
“We had a good week of great coaching from our 1st game on Monday till Friday last week, two games in a day morning and afternoon, with every game we umpired different coaches present in our games for after-match feedback.”
“On Wednesday we both had our Badges endorsed NZ C AWARD and ZONE AWARD which was great news and a major boost to our games on the last two days. We had umpired A senior games and B senior grades which was the 1st of its kind for Fiji Umpires coming into UNISS.”
Rabitu expressed her excitement at being selected to umpire the A-grade semifinals, a role typically reserved for New Zealand award umpires.
“The surprising schedule for the tournament was my appointment to umpire A grade semifinal on Friday as this was always given to NZ award umpires in NZ.”
Rabitu thanked Netball Fiji for making their achievements possible within a tight timeframe.
“We are forever grateful to Netball Fiji who made all this possible despite the little time we had, We will always be ready to give back to NF in any way for the development of umpires and also share the knowledge of what we have been taught on our weak tournament here in NZ,” she added.
