A member of Tassie Tigers' inaugural Australian Hockey League victory in 2014, Launceston's Jayden Pearson is now set to take part in a different capacity.
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The 23-year-old goalkeeper has traded in his Tigers playing gear for a fresh umpires kit ahead of the re-branded Hockey One competition as Tasmania's campaign gets underway this weekend in Hobart.
"I was given the opportunity this year to go away and umpire at the under-21 carnival and did fairly well at that so I got a promotion through to what used to be AHL-level which is now to umpire at the Hockey One," Pearson said.
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"Then I was fortunate enough to be given the three allocations for the games down in Hobart.
"Growing up, I got in and umpired local junior games and a few senior games here and there and then was given an opportunity to progress through from under-13 nationals and the pathway was there for me."
It's a pathway that the former Riverside Primary and High School student is looking to continue down, with goals to umpire at an international level in the future.
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Aiming to get the allocations for rounds six and seven to be held in Hobart, a finals spot is the short-term goal for Pearson, who is a previous Tasmanian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.
"I've always played and umpired and obviously this year, decided to take a step back and take up umpiring.
"I'm still undecided about travelling down to Hobart [to play with University] next year or whether I'm going to join the GNL comp [with former side Launceston City] and try and reduce my travel a little bit."
The rigours of Australia's leading hockey competition is certainly a major contrast to Pearson's day job, a field service technician for Irrigation Tasmania, but it's not something that seems to bother him.
"From watching the games that happened last weekend, it should be pretty quick and pretty high scoring, so I'm looking forward to getting involved and testing myself.
"It's my first time that I will be exposed to some of these guys that play at international level so for me, it's about seeing what the pace is and trying to keep up with it."
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Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
