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my view
Initially I was excited when "travel" or select ball came in my area, especially in the fall. I was able to pick up a whole season of games with some fairly good competition....I was doing youth ball (13-14-15-16 year olds), playing on 90' bases with OBR rules. The players came from the best teams in the area and were a notch above the summer league COLT/PONY variety. The pay was about HS freshman/JV level and I was guaranteed a double header each weekend..... And I enjoyed it.
Now to the present day.....the large amount of "travel" teams (I cant call them select, since the talent is so washed out) has made this a mess. A low level of play, a less than dedicated player base and a bargain mentality has entered the mix.
I get calls from travel coaches wanting to book umpires for double headers but wont be able to confirm the game until game day since it's no lock that they will be able to field 9 players.....plus they now want to pay less for umpires.....The age groups are getting younger and they are still trying to play the big field because the USSP-51xp (enter your choice of alpha numeric code here) world series qualifer is played on 90' bases.... (nothing sillier than watching a small 12 year old F5 try and make the throw to first........)
Its definately getting worse...I dont know if its phasing out or not, but I know I have phased out......I only do the original team who booked me years ago....They set the schedule in advance, want certified, insured and uniformed umpires and pay a decent fee, and try to cancel 24 hrs prior to game time.......
[Edited by piaa_ump on Aug 17th, 2005 at 11:25 AM]
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