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i started out doing my city's A-League, which was the secondary league for kids who didnt make the "majors" teams at the 10-11-12 level, when i was still a 12 year old and i continued that through being 13. i moved to LL "majors" when i was 14, but was still wearing the old sweatpants and a t-shirt gig, but used an inside protector. when i was either 13 or 14, i had an article published on my thoughts on MLB umpires and how they do in Baseball Weekly (now Sports Weekly) in their Kids Clubhouse section, after they started a series where they pick a topic and then kids write about it. useless info right there.
the first game i had where i was dressed in blue was when i was 17 (i turned 18 probably 2 weeks later). this was the summer between high school and college and i made a call to a guy i found on the internet, who just happened to have a game he was trying to fill the next day. i went out and worked a 13-14 year old travel game by myself and did a pretty good job from what i can remember. it was the first 1-man game i had worked, and i have hated 1-man games since that day, but i was so happy that i got through that first game and had a lot more to come. the guy i just found through a google search happens to be the same assignor i have now, and ive had a great time working for him in the association.
i think early on with this site and the other one, i have counted my years since i was 12 years old at some points, but now i just say i have 4 years. while i did get good experience working LL games from 12-16/17, it helped build me as a player more than anything. it was a whole different story than my first game in the previous paragraph. i'm 22 and i have come a very long way from how i was at 17/18, and of course how i was at 12.
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