PORTLAND’S Zavier Payne has only been umpiring for a couple of years but that isn’t stopping the young boundary umpire from reaching new heights after he was selected to officiate the under-17 interleague game last weekend between the Hampden FNL and Ballarat FNL.

The 17-year-old boards at Monivae College in Hamilton and is part of the Western District Umpires Association (WDUA).

Experience is required to master a trade and Payne is making sure he absorbs as much information and learning as he can, as he tries to umpire as much football as he can fit into his week.

Payne said going down to Mars Stadium in Ballarat to umpire the representative game was a “great experience” and felt the opportunity benefited his umpiring significantly.

“I’ve only been umpiring two years now so to get something so big this early on was quite exciting … I think I performed as well as I normally would,” he said.

“The umpires from Ballarat used similar techniques to what we use in Hampden, so it was easy to work together for the game … in the end Hampden was too good for Ballarat and they just ran away with the win.

“The ground and grandstands were all impressive, but the rooms were unlike anything I had seen before.”

Not even a slight hamstring niggle could sour the day for Payne who said it was a huge step in the right direction on the way to reaching some goals.

“I was hampered a bit by a slight hamstring injury that I had done the previous week in Portland, but after the recovery over the week, it didn’t play a huge part in the game,” he said.

“My goal is to try and get a Hampden grand final at the end of this season.”

Payne looked forward to working hard on his umpiring and hoped more opportunities would arise in the future as a result of his dedication.

Central umpiring was an area the youngster said he would love to learn more about and has already got experience in this role at junior levels.

“I am a Hampden boundary and then I have also become the allocated central umpire for the Portland under-14 girls and Heathmere juniors when they are at home,” he said.

“I would like to eventually move to central in the next couple of years, but I am also aware that WDUA is short on boundary umpires so they might still need me as a boundary.”