[nickrego]

Personally, I don’t think you should manage any activity you have no experience at.

I think the same applies to umpiring. A big part of umpiring is game management and a feel for what is about to happen. If you have never played, it is going take you much longer to become a good umpire.

I also don’t get why someone would umpire who has never played ? Every umpire I know, has either played, coached, or both. Why else would you get involved ? If your umpiring just for the money, then like WindyCityBlue said, you are too dumb to be umpiring. If you haven’t already figured it out, we are the lowest paid officials out there. Take all the time we spend preparing for a game, the cost of all our equipment (multiple uniforms on top of protective gear), clean-up after a game, maintenance and replacement of our equipment, and the time actually spent officiating into consideration. You better be doing it for love of the game, or switch to Basketball and Soccer.