Director
Term: 2023 – 2027 (four-year term)
Residing: Auckland, New Zealand
The technical director is responsible for the development of rules for all lacrosse disciplines recognized by World Lacrosse, the development of officials and the selection of officials for World Lacrosse world championship competitions. The technical director is also responsible for oversight of World Lacrosse anti-doping activities.
Don Blacklock brings years of lacrosse officiating experience to the role of technical director on the World Lacrosse board of directors. A veteran international lacrosse field official, he served from 2008 to 2019 as the World Lacrosse’s Men’s Officiating Subcommittee chair, a post responsible for overseeing the design, development and growth of the international officiating program, including the training of officials for all disciplines of men’s lacrosse and selection and management of officials and assessors for men’s world championships.
Blacklock led a committee that established and maintained qualification standards, training curricula and testing for world championship officials. He also has provided expertise to help establish referee programs throughout the world in emerging lacrosse nations by teaching referee courses and consulting with National Federations on the design and implementation of officiating programs and accreditation systems.
In England, he serves as a member of the English Lacrosse Association’s Referees and Rules Committee, which is responsible for the country’s men’s national officiating program. The committee sets the overall direction of officiating for all levels of men’s lacrosse in England, including certification criteria and allocation of officials to county, national, European and international competitions. It also develops and delivers referee training courses and manages the rule change process.
In 2013, he received the Lester B. Pearson Award from the Canadian Lacrosse Association for outstanding contributions of sportsmanship and leadership to the game of lacrosse. In 2014, he received the FIL’s (now World Lacrosse) Development Award for contributions to the development of officiating in international lacrosse.
Blacklock’s involvement in sports extends to other areas, including netball. He serves as digital innovation and transformation manager for England Netball and previously was the organization’s officiating manager responsible for supervising more than 8,000 umpires, tutors, assessors and regional administrators. He also is an independent director for Sports Officials UK, an organization that supports the development of officials across all UK sports. Prior to that, he held various technical positions in the automotive industry.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in administrative studies from York University, a master’s degree in information security from Georgian College and a certificate in project management from Edinburgh Business School.
