Department of Tourism, Sport and Culture
Seven of the Territory's top sporting officials will mentor local officials and facilitate their development through the 2020 Northern Territory Institute of Sport (NTIS) High Performance Officiating Program (HPOP).
The only program of its kind operating in Australia, HPOP enhances the quality of Territory sports by supporting officials from the NT to aspire to and achieve high level national and international standards of officiating.
The program enables officials to pursue development opportunities with the support of a mentor. Participants attend high level competitions, participate in professional development workshops, and undertake a 'give back' project within their sport to assist the development of officiating in the NT.
The program, delivered by some of the best specialists in the NT, focuses on developing many of the soft skills that are needed for great officiating such as sports psychology, nutrition and strength and conditioning.
The 2020 HPOP officials are:
- NT BMX – Alex Thomas
- NT Rugby Union – Brett Mullen
- Tennis NT – Greg Dickson
- Netball NT – Ruth Kirk
- Football Federation NT – Jacintha Misob
- NT Cricket – Imran Muhammad
- Yachting NT – Ed Vincent
The 2020 HPOP mentors are:
- NT BMX – Claire Ford
- NT Rugby Union – Steven Frost
- Tennis NT – Leanne Usher
- Netball NT – Kylie Bell
- Football Federation NT – Claire Matthews
- NT Cricket – Rizwan Muhammad
- Yachting NT – Joy Eggenhuizen
HPOP is now in its third year and previous participants have had some great successes such as Leanne Usher, a participant in the 2019 program for Tennis NT, who was selected to officiate in the Federation Cup Final late last year. Leanne progresses to a mentoring role in this year's program.
