Quote:
Originally posted by goldcoastump
If it's a newer official I might mention it to them or an evaluator but only to help them not to get them into hot water. With a more experienced official I would mention it to them and if they are not receptive I would keep my mouth shut and let them hang themselves.
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I am just a first year umpire (ASA & NFHS) and as luck would have it, the first games I did this year were a Women's Class E slow pitch state qualifier. A month prior to the tournament I informed our regional UIC that I had not had any luck securing games (I coach my daughter's FP team and that caused conflicts with the two or three games I was offered) and offered to give up my spot in the field. He knew I had gone to all the meetings and he had quizzed me many times since I was the only new umpire in our region, so he told me he felt it would be a good learning experience for me.
We had three umpires working each field, rotating from PU to BU to off. The other two umpires I was working with were veterans of many years. The guy working the bases while I was behind the plate did not seem to like me very much. Unfortunately I think he remembered me from a game he did that I was coaching, and while the only problem we had was that I was unwilling to listen to his explanation of why he made a particular call, I guess my walking away from him left him with a chip on his shoulder for me. To make a long story short, I finished my first two games and as I was leaving the field, was greeted by this same guy who informed me gleefully that the UIC for the tournament wanted to see me. I got a mild butt chewing for three areas he felt I could improve upon (following BR further down the 1st base line, more verbal on balls/strikes and better inside/outside on the bases). I didn't have a problem with that...I was there to listen and learn. The problem I had was that the other umpire didn't come to me at some point to share his thoughts with me. It came across to me as him running off the field to find the UIC to let him know immediately what a screw-up I was. I took the criticism in stride and worked hard to improve and by the end of the first day (the only day I was scheduled to work) I got compliments from the other umires and was pleasantly surprised when the UIC asked me if I could come back the next day. The UIC was also the evaluator and I ended up with mostly "Good" and a few "Excellent" grades.
So yeah, with a rookie like me, let someone know. I would have preferred to hear it from my partner first, but at least I heard it and I applied it.