World Masters Hockey Partners with Stacksy to Enhance the Officials’ Experience

World Masters Hockey is excited to announce a new five‑year partnership with Stacksy, creators of WhistleIQ — a platform designed to strengthen communication, appointments, feedback, and development for officials across WMH-managed events.

This partnership marks an important step forward in how WMH supports, connects, and develops its umpires and technical officials across the global Masters Hockey community. It reflects WMH’s broader commitment to improving systems, strengthening communication, and creating a more professional and connected experience for everyone involved in the game

“Our officials are central to the success of every World Masters Hockey event. We are committed to providing them with the best possible support and development opportunities. Through our partnership with Stacksy and WhistleIQ, we are investing in technology that will help us create a more connected, transparent and professional officiating environment across our events.”

Rob Jenkins

Chair of the WMH Officiating Committee

“WhistleIQ was built by officials, for officials. We understand the challenges of appointments, communication, feedback and development because we have lived them ourselves. We are excited to partner with WMH to help create a consistent and connected experience for officials round the world and support their development over the long term.”

Kristen Britz Founder of WhistleIQ and Chief Innovation Officer at Stacksy

A smarter, more connected platform for officials

WhistleIQ will streamline officiating functions, including appointments, communication, feedback, and performance tracking, into a single secure, user-friendly platform. It will support both umpires and technical officials, improving coordination and clarity before, during, and after tournaments.

A major advantage of the platform is its appointment engine, which automates appointment matching based on rules, availability, and tournament requirements. This will reduce manual workload while supporting more consistent and transparent appointment processes. In practical terms, this gives Tournament Directors and Umpire Managers more time to focus on the human side of events – supporting officials, engaging with teams, and contributing to the wider tournament environment.

Designed to grow with WMH

Over the next five years, WMH and Stacksy will work closely together to co-develop features tailored to the evolving needs of the WMH officiating community. This collaborative approach will ensure the platform continues to develop with direct input from Umpire Managers, Tournament Directors, Assistant Tournament Directors, Judges, and officials across the WMH network.

Officials will benefit from improved scheduling, clearer feedback pathways, and better visibility of their development over time. Access to appointment records, historical feedback, and performance trends will support greater ownership of each official’s development journey.

A further benefit is that officials working across multiple organisations using WhistleIQ will be able to bring their experience together in one place. That means appointments, feedback, development history, and performance insights can be connected across events and providers, giving officials a more complete view of their officiating journey.

Training ahead of the World Cup

To ensure a smooth roll-out, Stacksy and the WMH Officiating Committee are committed to delivering comprehensive training well in advance of the upcoming World Cup.

This will include guided onboarding, role-specific training sessions, and practical walkthroughs of the platform’s key features. The aim is simple: to ensure that every official, regardless of prior experience with the platform, feels confident, supported, and ready to use WhistleIQ effectively from day one.

A formal and structured selection process

WMH has taken a formal and disciplined approach to selecting this solution. The opportunity and funding were identified by Swampy Marsh, while Ian Smith led the process using industry-standard IT software procurement methods.

This included a Proof of Concept and a structured assessment scoring system through which two products were evaluated. WMH’s Technical and Umpiring teams worked through a significant number of predefined use cases to assess suitability and ensure the selected platform was fit for purpose for WMH’s requirements.

This reflects WMH’s wider focus on sound governance, practical systems, and building strong operational foundations for the future.

Supported by My Local Broker

This engagement has been made possible through the generous support of My Local Broker, a leading Australian and New Zealand organisation in the financial services marketplace.

Their support enables WMH and Stacksy to deliver a modern, integrated officiating platform together with the training required to make it successful. Their contribution reflects a shared belief in the value of strong officiating and the importance of investing in the people who help make hockey possible. For more information, visit My Local Broker

Looking ahead

This partnership is about more than technology. It is about creating a world-class officiating environment that values professionalism, development, consistency, and community.

Together, WMH and Stacksy are investing in the future of officiating – and in the people who help make every WMH event possible.