Mid Canterbury netball umpires Ashlein and Heath Lyttle are geared up for a busy season. Photo Adam BurnsIt can be a formidable task officiating competitive sport.

No just the physical demands, but the mental ones also.

But for Mid Canterbury netball umpires Heath and Ashlein Lyttle, at least they can swap notes.

The pair are again set to don the whistle ahead of a busy Mid Canterbury netball season.

The fact they are a father-and-daughter combination in premier grade netball is not the only factor which make the Lyttles unique.

Ashlein is undaunted as a teenager adjudicating players much older than herself, while father Heath is one of a handful of men involved in a sport dominated by the opposite gender.

Initially this was an element Heath had to learn to acclimatise to after being roped in by coach and umpire Wendy Hopwood about four years ago.

“One of the biggest challenges was being a male in a female-dominated sport which was hard to adjust to at the start.

“It takes time to adjust to that sort of stuff.

“There’s only three of us men who are umpires.

“It’s just normal now.”

But it was already on the radar and Heath thought it would be a good way to keep fit in the winter.

Heath also officiates local softball during the summer.

Although both codes are pointedly different, there are general elements that he has transferred over to the courtside from the diamond.

“The mental side, how you take things in.

“Having to learn the rules becomes second nature and keeping up with all the rule changes.”

Although the softballing rulebook was constantly being overhauled compared to netball, he said.

Ashlein has been umpiring for nearly two years and said it was a natural move given she was on the side of the court most weeks with both parents involved.

“We were here most of the time, so thought I may as well get in and do something while I’m here,” she said.

Although she is officiating in a mixture of grades, Ashlein – like her father – made her own mental adjustments when officiating the big guns at premier level.

“Getting up to premier – they’re a lot older.

“It can be intimidating but you just got to block it all out.”

With both her father and some of the more experienced local officials, there was plenty of support on hand for the Ashburton College pupil.

Despite its challenges though, there remains a significant allure in being involved in bigger games and advancing the craft.

“I guess for any sport, when you’re officiating, your one goal is to be at the top at the end and trying to get near that is always an aim,” Heath said.

“Getting those really close, challenging games and thriving off the tightness of the game.”

Ashlein, who is also a Mid Canterbury age group rep as a player, admits her biggest long term priority remains with ball in hand.

However she is encouraged that she has another string to the bow to fall back on.

“There is definitely a second option that I can go to,” she said.

Her father said she has youth on her side and that she had the potential to go far given she has started at an early age.

“The earlier that you do it the better,” he said.

“It’s a long road and it takes a number of years to get to the top.”

He urged anyone who was considering getting involved to not hesitate.

Last year Heath completed his New Zealand theory exam and was hoping to be nominated to complete a practical test, which is assessed by Netball New Zealand panel examiners in 2020.

The duo even officiated the same fixture last season, although Heath said it was “just like any other game”.

“It’s just second nature to me, if you’ve got a job to do, you just go out there and do it.

“It’s kind of special as well, you don’t often get to do something like that.”

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 7 March 2020

Sandra Keith receives the trophy for winning the New Zealand Fours championships on the weekend. Photo supplied.Sandra Keith’s collection is now complete.

Sure, it might have taken a little longer than she’d hoped, but the Ashburton bowler can now boast a feat few others in her sport can after she claimed her third Bowls New Zealand title on the weekend.

Keith, a former member of the Black Jacks, skipped her side to success in the National Fours Championships on Sunday in Mt Maunganui giving her the perfect three – success in all three disciplines played for at a national championship level.

Her fours win follows her singles victory in the 2011-2012 season and then a pairs title with Serena Matthews the following year.

It’s been a few years between drinks, so to speak, but Keith is happy to have the monkey off her back.

“I’ve been bridesmaid in that event a couple of times, so it’s nice to finally get one over the line,” she said yesterday after returning home.

“Everything went to plan from the outset, the whole team played well the whole way through and it made my job really easy at the other end.”

Keith was joined by Tayla Bruce, Clare Hendra and Selina Smith and on reflection decided that she was lucky to even be at the championships.

“I hadn’t planned on going to be fair, but Tayla asked me in the New Year if I wanted to play and I’d said no to her a couple of times, so thought I’d better say yes this time around.

“Then, when I heard who else was in the team I was convinced, it was a strong line-up.”

Keith’s side won the final 21-12 over Wendy Green’s side.

With three New Zealand titles and some good form on the board this season, Keith said there was no desire to chase her spot back in the New Zealand side at this stage, preferring to see what unfolds.

“I’m playing well and I’m really happy with how things are going at the moment.

“I don’t really want to put a heap into chasing something right now.”

The Allenton Bowling Club member has plenty to keep her mind busy in the coming weeks on the greens with club finals looming, as well as an appearance on Bowls Canterbury’s Finals weekend in the fours and the annual inter centre competition as well.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 3 March 2020

Ian Lattimore. Photo Shirley Falloon.

While beginning my latest interview with Ian Lattimore, the first description that came to mind was ‘overachiever’ but I came to realise that Ian’s long and distinguished army career was motivated by his desire to, above all else, serve his country.

It was after some routine ‘fossicking’ on my part through the College Archives I frequently found photos and information of this high-profile student from the late 1970’s.  I tracked ‘Latts’ down and found he is back living in the area just out of Methven.  

Ian only attended Ashburton College for two years – 1979 and 1980 but made a significant impact in that short time.  He came to College from Methven High (now Mt Hutt College) and when asked his reasons for transferring, he admitted that it was his broad sporting interests as much as the wider subject choices on offer that drew him to College.  His rugby/leadership skills ensured that in 1980 he became captain of the 1^st XV.  He was also very keen on athletics and basketball.  In that same year he became Head Boy also.  He remembers his time at College very fondly and mentioned Bevan Bain, Trevor Cochrane, Pete Fougere as fantastic teachers/coaches as well as good friends.  Daphne Thomson was head of Red House at the time that Ian was Red House captain.  Mike Edsall was in charge of the shooting team that Ian took part in.  Owen McDowell was Principal at the time and he and Ian  shared a great rapport as well.

Half way through Ian’s 7^th form (Year 13) year he decided to put his name forward for officer selection to the NZ Army.  In 1981 Ian travelled to Officer Cadet School in Portsea,  south of Melbourne where New Zealanders and Australians were trained. Ian’s upbringing was heavily influenced by a grandfather, great uncles, uncles and a first cousin all giving proud service to their country in three wars and by age eight, Ian had decided his future would be in this direction also.

During his time in Australia, he was trained by Vietnam ‘vets’ who he found “tough but very nice people”.  After one year’s training he returned to New Zealand to attend the Platoon Commanders course in infantry at Waiouru.  

His first posting (tour of duty) in 1983 was to West Germany with the British Army on the Rhine.  He was posted to the famous Black Watch Scottish Regiment.  This was during the Cold War period and that regiment was there primarily for surveillance and defence seeing no ‘action’ but serving a valuable purpose nevertheless.  Ian returned to Burnham briefly before next being posted in 1984 to South East Asia, again during the Cold War.  

In Singapore and now a lieutenant,  Ian helped train the Malaysian Army where the relationship between New Zealand, Singaporean and Malaysian troops was, and still is, extremely close.  While Ian would only touch on some of the high jinks soldiers sometimes got up to, it was as a result of him being on extra duty for some misdemeanour of his that he saved the arm of a fellow soldier.  The surgeon operating on this fellow was prepared to amputate because of a shortage of his blood type but Ian would only sign the necessary consent form if the surgeon promised to wait until he had tracked down suitable donors from within his battalion.

In 1992 and 1993 Ian, now acting Major Lattimore went to Sinai as a liaison officer working with both the Egyptian and Israeli armies.  Most of his time was spent in Cairo where he formed a great relationship with both.  

After a stint in London on the British Military desk to Bosnia, Ian returned to NZ to work with at-risk secondary age and unemployed youth, then in 2002 Ian was sent to Sierra Leone, a place he describes as the “most upsetting of his career” because of the abuse of civilians he witnessed there.  Living conditions for the local population were terrible and although the conditions for troops was much better, Ian lost 10kgs in a very short space of time.  The heat, disease and working very long days for 7 months straight took its toll on the personnel there.  He described the conditions there as being like a “white man’s graveyard”.  

2004/05 found Ian on a tour of duty to Afghanistan as Ops Officer in the Bamiyan province.  The NZ Army worked very closely with the US army, a partnership which was especially valuable to the much smaller body of NZ troops.  Ian has nothing but praise for the US Army who was always there when back-up was needed and had the fire-power of ground attack aircraft  and US Marines in helicopters at the ready.  Living conditions and equipment for troops in Afghanistan were much better than Sierra Leone and it needed to be – temperatures sometimes plummeted to -35degrees.  While in a mountainous area in blizzard conditions Ian needed to act fast to extract some personnel who were at risk.  Even so they had suffered some frost nip!

2010-2011 saw Ian in Dilli, Timor in a peacekeeping role where he was an officer commanding NZ troops and Plans Officer for the ANZAC troops.

For three years Ian was a tactics and leadership instructor in Queensland. Ian is not quite retired but is back living on the family farm near Methven.  His status is officially ‘stand-by Reserve’. He can be called back at any time. In the past he has escorted Royals and VIPs and particularly enjoyed escorting Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Others he has escorted are Princes Andrew and Edward, along with past Prime Minister Helen Clark.  An important role Ian has undertaken is when the army was assisting with the Kaikoura earthquake and Invercargill floods.

One issue that army personnel are warned of when they have served in some very tough parts of the world is when they return is not to judge New Zealand people too harshly because they’ve not experienced the deprivation that people in conflict zones have.  

Modest about his achievements, Ian was careful not to be drawn on some incidents and this is because he is still ‘serving’ and therefore governed by secrecy laws.  Ian has life-long friends all over the world and stressed that army life “is a tough life but I would do it all again”.  

By Shirley Falloon © AshColl Alumni -  February 2020