The first European International Umpire Course for many years was held in Bochum Germany on May 27-28. The course was led by GM Nicholls, together with Master Maidana and Master Perez.

Participants from Ireland, Holland, England, Wales, Slovenia, Greece,Spain,Poland and Germany. Masters from Ireland and Greece were also in attendance updating their knowledge of the rules.
Day 1: There were a number of small changes to the rules, and these were explained by Master Maidana and there was some points of discussions too.
On Saturday night there was a very enjoyable time spent over dinner at a Mongolian restaurant in Bochum.

Day 2 took place in the Olympic Park sports hall, with a full size ring and lots of time to practice the commands and to perfect the umpiring skills. This was followed by run through of some of the patterns, then looking at the procedures for power and special techniques, then some more questions from the Masters to ensure the newly qualifying umpires were able to have as much knowledge as possible.

The final act of the weekend was the photo shoot the attendees with the Masters.