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Originally Posted by briancurtin
striker,
where did you come up with that?
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Sorry...it seems that more than a few umpires on this board have an attitude toward doing anything at a lower level...comments like LMAN's demonstrate an attitude that doing a 9yo game would be out of the question and beneath their status. This high and mighty attitude is one of the main reasons there is a shortage of good umpires at lower levels; once they progress, they aren't willing to return to their "roots." I am not suggesting that we stretch ourselves too much so we are always doing games, but a little community service now and then would be great. There are two associations in my community, one for softball and one for baseball. Both require a certain number of games volunteered to the community throughout the year to maintain membership. It is minimal, and most occur in the post season. However, it really, really helps out the organizations that need umpires but must contain costs to make sure every kid plays that wants to.
A great example of this kind of service occurred with me and my partner last year. We were scheduled to do a game, but it was cancelled while we were at the field. On the adjacent field, there was a 9-10yo game that was getting ready to start that needed umpires. You should have seen the look on those boys' faces when we arrived on their field! I think it even improved their level of play to have "real" umpires (rather than dads from the stands) in "real" uniforms for a regular season game. They played their hearts out and we received thank-yous from just about everyone there, including the coach that had a few close ones go against him!
My point is this...once in while, do something just because it is the right thing to do and it makes someone else happy. That includes umpiring a 9yo game because they need good umpires, too.
Sorry to hijack the thread. This is just a huge pet peeve of mine.
Striker