Former international umpire Alison Cormack has uttered those words thousands of times as new umpires pick up the whistle and work their way towards wearing the white.
Netball Eastern Southland is managing a rare feat — having 50 umpires to look after 54 teams, and only needing to call on a handful of player-umpires each week.
In an era where the sporting world is screaming out for more officials, it is down to the work of Cormack — the centre’s umpire and draw secretary — and others, who are throwing their support behind their youngsters and getting them involved in another avenue of the game.
"I love that new umpire who says ‘I think I want to umpire’, and I’m just like ‘come with me’," Cormack said.
The centre has a long association with St Peter’s College and Gore High School, now known as Maruawai College, doing "promos", teaching new umpires — or those who want to take umpiring up — the rules and helping them sit their first theory exams if they want to continue.
The centre also works alongside the umpires, standing courtside with them to ensure they feel supported.
It is that support that Cormack believes makes the difference and keeps the umpires coming back.
"The huge support network that we produce is that every umpire that umpires a game feels valued.
"We also now don’t say ‘oh you want to umpire, you’ve got to umpire the whole year’.
"If you can umpire this week, and you don’t umpire for two weeks, that’s fine. Whenever you can is good.
"That little person, when they do their first game, we’ve got someone with them.
"We go to the court with them. We don’t allow any sideline comments whatsoever.
"Again, we have someone on duty, with a pink vest on, and we just support them."
It also helped new umpires to see a pathway to higher honours, with five international umpires coming from the region — and Cormack and Simpson still umpiring in Gore when they can — and others on national "watchlists" and taking on top-level club games.
That was a "huge" boost for the region and played a role in why people were still getting involved, she said.
The centre was honest and hard on its umpires if they wanted to reach the top, and while officials supported their umpires, they still pushed them to find their own feet.
"You’ve still got to do it on your own."
