By Eve Reitmajer
BOWEN’S Logan Milligan is continuing to kick goals in his favourite sport — now from the sideline. The keen AFL player has been selected to be a student umpire at the National Combined School Sports AFL championships to be held in Maroochydore next month.
His selection follows his umpiring performances at two recent state championships — the under-16 girls school championships in Mackay and under-15 championships at Burpengary.
Queensland School Sports umpire co-ordinator and umpire co-ordinator for the national titles Jason McCormick said Logan was very deserving of his selection.
“I managed Logan at the state championships and during the carnival he was fantastic,” Mr McCormick said.
“He was committed, professional and courteous. He did a great job and worked hard every game.
“I think he is a fantastic kid and very deserving of this opportunity.” Mr McCormick said Logan would be taking part in the national championships as a boundary umpire.
When not running the boundary, Logan will be watching games sitting alongside AFL umpires from the elite roster, who will be acting in a mentoring role, discussing movement around the ground, decisions made and offering other feedback.
Logan said he was looking forward to umpiring at the national championships and building on the confidence, new skills and experience he gained at both of the Queensland championships. A year 10 student at St Catherine’s Catholic College in Proserpine, Logan began umpiring AFL just over 12 months ago, in the AFL Mackay Club region.
Umpiring offers a different insight into the game of AFL which has opened another pathway in the sport he loves. When he umpired at the Queensland AFL under-16 girls school championships held from May 19-22 in Mackay he rotated between field, boundary and goal umpiring.
The Queensland AFL under-15 Championships at Burpengary were held the following week, May 25-29.
At this state championships Logan umpired 11 out of 20 full games held, one as a goal umpire and 10 as a boundary umpire. On day four he did three boundary games back to back, showing that fitness is not an
issue.
The national championships, which will be held from July 23-30, will be an opportunity for Logan to umpire some of the best up and coming AFL players in the country, with under-12 boys, under-15 boys and under-15 girls from around Australia competing.
Meanwhile, Logan is still playing AFL in the under-17 Whitsunday Sea Eagles and in April this year was selected in the Mackay Crows under-16 team to play at the North Queensland Championships which ran from June 8-10 in Airlie Beach.
He then went on and trialled as part of the Whitsunday School Team for the AFL under-15 North Queensland
schoolboys team. While he trialled well, he was not selected.
Last Modified on 02/09/2016 10:13