Quote:
Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
IMO, this wasn't a problem until state/metro associations started getting lazy and cheap and pushed newer umpires toward national schools instead of doing their own training.
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I've only umpired 11 years now. When I first got into it I had the benefit of a local group that put on training for folks wanting to become an ASA umpire. There were some annual clinics that were available, but many of those were not as helpful for training as I might have liked.
I did finally find out about National Umpire Schools and National Tournaments. A lot of that information came from this forum for which I'm grateful. I ended up going to 3 National Schools and as a result 4 National Tournaments. But less than a handful of umpires in my area are inclined to attend a national school. The cost (including school, hotel, travel) is a detriment to some and others for legitimate reasons can't manage to get weekends off from work to attend.
We have a lot of umpires who don't even bother to take the umpires' exam each year and/or don't attend any of our state clinics. Some of these are the "uppity college umps" who tend to look down on those that don't work college.
We're doing more for training and offering clinics and hands-on training. But getting folks to show up is still a problem. To improve, we rely a lot on self-motivation. And that, for some, is sorely lacking.