Netball NSW would like to congratulate Duncan Lang who has been recognised with the Waratah Service Award.
A prestigious honour, the Award is presented to an individual that has provided distinguished service to Netball NSW in the capacity of an organisational or operational volunteer for at least 10 years.
The Board of Netball NSW initiated the Award in 2012, and it’s recognised by the broader NSW netball community as one of the most esteemed acknowledgements from the State Body.
Duncan has been a part of the NNSW Umpiring fraternity for close to 25 years. He first started umpiring in Sutherland around 1980 and was award his A Badge in 2002, on his 40th birthday!
He was an integral part of the umpiring cohort on the Inter-District, the then State League competition and now the Netball NSW Premier League.
When Duncan retired from umpiring he put all of his energy into umpiring education, mentoring and coaching of up-and-coming umpires. Duncan has been a senior leader in the umpiring space for many years and has lent his experience to the past State and State-Age, now HART Junior and Senior State Titles, weekends at regional league and badging, through mentoring, coaching and allocation of umpires.
At the Netball NSW Annual General Meeting on Saturday 15th March, Netball NSW Life Member and Chair of the Recognition Reference Panel, Wendy Archer AM said she was delighted to congratulate Duncan on this award:
"Duncan has given unqualified service to this state over a long period of time in all aspects of umpiring, not just what he did on the court. For me watching Duncan over many years, I think his contributions has been greatest off the court in his coaching, educating, mentoring of our up-and-coming umpires."
Duncan is a very highly respected person who has given so freely of his time, skill and expertise over a sustained period of time and is most worthy of recognition through the Waratah Service Award for his dedication and persistence in assisting the umpires of NSW to achieve their potential.
