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Originally Posted by David B
Sadly this is true of most all of the kids leagues now not just LL. In our state was have Dixie ball, Dizzy Dean, and a couple of select leagues and it is amazing the lack of quality that is seen in their tournaments.
David
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I agree for the most part. I work Dixie and travel ball during the summer. I have done many State tournaments and have done a couple of the "World Series", and the quality of umpiring varies greatly depending on the organization and the location.
The travel ball tournaments exclusively use the local association for both State tournament and "World Series" games. We have some very good officials in our assocation, but we also have some who are less than proficient. When it comes tournament time, the assignor has to use whoever is available, and with multiple sessions occuring simultaneously on eight or more fields, he sometimes has to scrape the bottom of the barrel.
In Dixie, the State tournaments are also primarily covered by the local associations, and the "good-old-boy" network can come into play. I am fortunate that the State UIC lives in my area and he does a good job thinning the pool and having high-quality umpires work the local State tournaments. The "World Series" is a different matter. They supposedly bring in the best from different areas. We usually send two guys a year to one. Most times they are both very good, but occasionally, the state UIC does "reward" one of his long time umpires. The "rewarded" umpires usually get a couple of games on the bases and maybe a losers bracket game on the dish, then they are done.