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Originally Posted by 1bigump
I have been getting beat up behind the dish the past 2 weeks. I have good equipment and trust it, but have found myself flinching and bailing out on balls in the dirt. I have been umpiring for quite a while and cannot remember a time that I have been beat up so bad.
By the way these are high school aged kids. Any advice on how to stop the bailing out instinct?
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I get beat up quite a bit too, and it can make you a little flinchy for sure.
What I do is tell myself (I get pissed at myself for being a wuss) to just sit there and relax and don't move. I tell myself that if I move, I might miss something important. I tell myself I have the best seat in the house, and there is no sense in moving from it. And I also tell myself that if someone was there evaluating me, I would be getting dinged for moving.
I moved from the scissors position to the heel/toe after a bad injury to my left elbow on a direct 90+ fastball hit. I now do as many MLB umpires do, and that is hide my hands and wrists behind my upper thighs, so the only exposed areas are the insides of the biceps and forearms.
Many people swear by the GD stance for safety too, although I'm not quite sold on it at lower levels where the catchers are a bit iffy.
Hope it helps.