By: Erika Ng
Netball WA is pleased to congratulate Nathan Cera and Christine Johnson on their appointment to the squad of 15 umpires selected to officiate the 2022 National Netball Championships to be held in Hobart, Tasmania in April.
They will officiate games over the course of the Championships that run from 19-24 April, providing excellent opportunities for them to experience umpiring at this level of competition. They will also participate in several skill and knowledge sessions to assist their on and off court development.
Cera and Johnson both began their umpiring journeys officiating local games and competitions. Through hard work and dedication, they have both once again found themselves with the prestigious opportunity to umpire at a national competition.
In Johnson’s first appearance at a National Netball Championship in 2016, she officiated the U17’s Grand Final.
Nathan began umpiring at UWA in 2008 on a whim and in 2018 his spontaneity was rewarded when he was awarded Umpire of the Year for WANL.
Both umpires bring a wealth of experience and knowledge with them and are both looking forward to improving themselves and the game to the best of their abilities.
“For someone with a tendency toward perfectionism, netball is a great reminder that there is simply no such thing as the ‘perfect game’,” Cera said.
“Netball teaches you the importance of striving for consistent excellence, not perfection. For me, umpiring is predominantly a strenuous mental activity and I love that.”
When asked about his feelings on being selected for the Championship, Nathan said: “There are many fantastic umpires at WANL who do a consistently excellent job, year in, year out, so it is incredibly humbling to be included in that pool of umpires selected to umpire nationally.”
Johnson has been umpiring since 2014 and since then has had the opportunity to umpire the All Stars v Fever games in 2020 and 2021.
She said her goals for 2022 are to maintain and grow consistent umpiring across technical aspects of the game, especially in more challenging game patterns.
“I want to continue to be mindful of the process and strive to be the best I can be. I want to take advantage of opportunities afforded to me and work hard physically, mentally and technically to ensure I can be the best umpire that I can be, on and off court.”
Netball WA is grateful to have Nathan Cera and Christine Johnson represent the WA Netball community in Hobart and wish them all the best during the Championship.
