[NCASAUmp]

I couldn't agree more with both of you here. If you're going to a Nationals, you need to prepare, prepare, prepare! When I was offered a spot at Burlington, I placed one condition on my acceptance: that my boss come out a week or so before the tourney and evaluate me as if I were calling a National. That way, I could catch my mistakes BEFOREHAND. He was happy to do so, and while I haven't gotten my eval from my National yet, I feel confident that my review will be pretty positive (seeing as how the UIC said he'd be happy to have me back).

Now, not everyone has such solid support around them. I consider myself lucky that my boss is willing and flexible to do these things for me. However, there are plenty of materials around that can help umpires prepare themselves, even when opportunities to practice can be limited (such as running a 3-man crew), such as the materials that ASA sells on officialgear.com. Running a 3-man only works when all 3 umpires are familiar with it. Just jumping in there can actually be dangerous for umpires, as it can cause confusion over coverage if one or both of the other umpires are only familiar with a 2-man crew.