Jeremy Bahr

A WODONGA teenager is taking giant steps to achieve his dream of making it to the top level of hockey in Australia.

However, what makes Jeremy Bahr’s story unique is the fact he’s doing it as an umpire.

Bahr officiated his first match at just 12 years of age and has continued to work very hard since, having developed aspirations to become an internationally-recognised umpire.

His outstanding achievements to date have led to him being nominated for the 2017 Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year Award.

The 18-year-old has continued on the pathway, but admitted it has had its fair share of challenges.

“I think the main thing people get turned off by is the way some people react to decisions,” Bahr said.

You’ve got to learn to get over that.

“The main thing is keeping fit and constantly updating yourself with the knowledge of the game.”

“The International Hockey Federation updates their rules every two years and there’s been some interesting changes.”

It was late in 2010 that Bahr started umpiring his first games with schools for their winter sports competitions, and, in 2011, took responsibility of under 12s matches, where he started to progress further.

“I got invited to go to Canberra in 2013 with the local side here and in 2014 I went to Melbourne for a junior state championships and enjoyed all that and decided I wanted to go further,” he said.

“I gave up playing last year to focus a bit more on going to a national level.”

“I’m currently in the process of obtaining a level two accreditation, which is for nationals, that involves going to Melbourne and umpiring premier league games.

“Hopefully by the end, I can travel around Australia and get myself a spot in the Australian Hockey League.”

“An Olympics down the track would be great.”

He has also been a mentor to local juniors interested in trying out umpiring.

“It’s great to see they’re now learning, because we need more umpires,” Bahr said.

“We had a bit of a shortage last year, so hopefully we can get more numbers.”

Last year was Bahr’s second term as a member of the Wodonga Hockey Club committee and he also received the club’s prestigious Myer Endeavour Award for his umpiring efforts and achievements.

“Wodonga Hockey Club have supported me really well and are my go-to for anything,” Bahr said.

“I plan to stay around here for now, and, eventually, if there is a spot, I’ll hopefully move up to the Australian Hockey League and see where it goes from there.