Nine replies, and only one has anything remotely to do with the original question. Nice job derailers! Way to pay attention.
Tim,
Our junior umpire program started 5 years ago. 12 year olds and up. It began in winterball, or training and development season. No score, no standing, so little pressure. The local BoD backed the kids, and made it very clear to the coaches that if they try to imtimidate any youngster they'll be done in our league.
We started with weekly classroom sessions, followed by games on Saturday. Lots of adult mentoring. Kids had gear to use at the field, and were given hats and shirts. The hook was food. Work a game in winterball, and the snackbar is open. "Will work for food" works well. Plus, the incentive to get better, so you can get paid in springball.
We had a great UiC the first year. He was a no-nonsense fellow, but with a big heart. Appearance was key in his book, and kids even got haircuts just to umpire games for him. At the end of the first year we had about ten kids working lots of games. At the closing ceremony, after the All Stars were announced, the UiC had one more award. A $500 savings bond (that he paid for out of his own pocket) for the Umpire of the Year. After that, we practically had a waiting list for Junior Umpires.
We've now put kids in District, Section and State championship games. We've graduated one to doing adult league games, for some major coin, at 17 years old. And our program is being copied by all the surrounding leagues. But it starts with one guy, and BoD willing to back him. Good luck Tim, it's a worth while cause.
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