UmpireHockey.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the first of five winners of the 2007 Captain of the Year award. This years first winner is from Mercer County, New Jersey.

At the high school level, the Captain of the Year award is presented on a county-by-county basis. The program began in Mercer County in 2005 and has expanded to include awards in five counties in 2007.

The Captain of the Year award program was created by umpires in 2005 to help foster collaborative relationships between players and umpires. In addition to Mercer County, award winners will be named in four other New Jersey counties – Bergen, Hunterdon, Morris, and Somerset.

The Mercer County winner this year is May-Ying Medalia, a Princeton High School senior who will be continuing her field hockey career at Princeton University in the fall.

Cris Maloney, UmpireHockey.com publisher and UmpireHockey.org trustee, presents the Henderson Sotheby's International Realty 2007 Captain of the Year award plaque to Princeton High School's senior field hockey star May-Ying Medalia.

Medalia, contacted after the award presentation, said, “I am very honored to be named the Henderson Sotheby's International Realty 2007 Captain of the Year, and that my respect towards umpires and knowledge of field hockey has been recognized by the umpires who officiated my games.�

Henderson Sotheby's International Realty, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey [USA], sponsors the award in Mercer County. Funding from Henderson Sotheby's International Realty provides the award winner's recognition plaque, offsets the cost for advanced training of Mercer County umpires, and supports rules education programs for players, coaches, and fans.

According to the UmpireHockey.org website, "The Captain of the Year award winner is typically a player who helps ensure the fairest possible outcome of a game because she has in-depth rules knowledge and so is able to be an advocate for her team when it becomes necessary to challenge an umpire's important call."

UmpireHockey.org's selection committee is made up of high performance umpires, all of whom have been trained by umpires who have officiated gold medal games at the Olympics. A blind review of the nomination forms is used in determining each county's winner.

All team captains in a sponsored county are automatically eligible for the award though individual nominations are required. Medalia was selected from among the largest pool of Mercer County nominations in the history of the award. Her nomination arose from a penalty corner play.

The penalty corner is unique in sport. It provides the team on offense a temporary yet overwhelming attacking advantage. Not surprisingly, most goals in field hockey are scored on penalty corners.

The rules that govern shots during a penalty corner are not applied at any other time during the game. The umpires watch a flood of attackers pour into the scoring circle while defenders race off the end line in the opposite direction to meet and cross paths with the attackers. All the while the umpire standing close to the goal post is watching a ball that's harder than but about the size of a baseball race around from attacker to attacker, one of whom typically finishes the penalty corner off with a shot that at the high school level exceeds 50 miles per hour. In short, making the correct calls on a penalty corner can be a fairly complex task.

Last fall, when Princeton High School was defending a penalty corner, after a series of passes, the attacking team's player took a reverse stick shot that, if not stopped by the goalkeeper's glove save, would have crossed into the goal. The ball fell back into play and as play continued the Princeton defense fouled. The umpire called for the award of another penalty corner. As the attack began to set up for their penalty corner, Medalia went over to the umpire and politely but forthrightly told the umpire that she felt that the umpire had made a mistake AND described the rule – in detail – that the attacking team broke during their shot, which would nullify the award of the subsequent penalty corner.

The umpire immediately called time out and met with her partner to discuss the play and the call she made. The umpires agreed that the captain was right.

In the old days, captains who spoke up like this might have been scolded or even carded for questioning an umpire. What happened this time was that the umpire who made the error simply corrected her call and after the game the umpire went home and nominated Medalia for the award.

UmpireHockey.org is seeking a national sponsor to bring the award program to the college level. For more information concerning the Captain of the Year award program, please write: coty@umpirehockey.org

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