Dressing Rooms

[PeteBooth]

First off, this Board is picking up even in the offseason and I enjoy all the dialogue we have been having over the past week or so.
We have had a variety of opinions without "Keyboard Trash-Talking" and I say Amen to that - Let's keep it up.

Now enough of my Father Flanagan Speech - on to the topic.

One of the pet peeves of not only me but my colleagues in my asscoaition as well is the Subject of Dressing Rooms at the game sites.

Our fellow officials in Football and Basketball have dressing rooms, for the most part we do not.

We get scheduled a game in the middle of "the twilight zone" and basically have to get dressed in our cars or behind some bush or in the woods.

Below there was a topic concerning Pre-game and Post game Discussions with your partner and I agree, without dressing rooms it makes it very difficult.

Also, after a tough game - we basically want to high tail it out of there - Do not hang around and maybe we can phone each other for a critique.

Personally, I would like dressing rooms at game sites. We can actually relax while we are getting dressed - have a good Pre / Post game discussion with our partner and hey even change after the game - See guys it's the little things.

Pete Booth

[Stan W]

Pete.....2 years ago I was asked to be the UIC of a PONY league tournament and after hearing and experiencing the lack of facilities for Umpires I was able to do this. Under the press box of my local league was 2 equipment rooms....one big and one small.....now during the off-season the big room was full with equipment, but now during the season it was empty.. We cleaned the room out and painted it white (all we had...donated)....we put in a bench, an old clothes rack from a church rummage sale, a flourescent light fixture from a members garage replaced the one naked light bulb.... one of our members (a plumber) put in a tap in the water line that ran to an adjacent bathroom...the door was locked by Me and I carried the key....we painted the door blue and stenciled UMPIRES ONLY on the door....now all we did was convert a storage closet basically, but it was big enough to hold 4 umpires.. 2 coming, 2 going....give them a place to go between games, and a place to dress, and leave the equipment in safe hands....Cant tell you the comments we recieved...some of our Umpires who have called State playoff games said they hadnt had such good facilities.......and all it was was a storage shed....2 gallons of white paint...one quart of blue, some donated items...a few hours of member work......it has been the best thing we have done.....now the dressing room is back to being an equipment storage area, but come next spring.....a little wash down....we are ready for tournaments...........

[rskinner]

Thanks for beinging it up, Pete. Your not the Lone Ranger on this topic. In New Hampshire, very few high school game sites provide dressing rooms for umpires. Football, wrestling and basketball are all accommodated. Your posting made me think that as a regional assigner I am in a position to query local AD's to attempt to right this injustice. I drive a van with tinted windows to games just because we have to change at our vehicles.
I'll let you know how I make out.

[GarthB]

I investigated this issue two years ago locally. Here is the bottom line for us:

Ball fields at schools tend to be farther away from the school facilities than football or basketball. During the school year we are welcome to use the locker room facilities but it is such a walk, most umps prefer the parking lot.

During the summer, the school buildings are locked up and many fields are not school fields. They are municipal fields with no facilities of any kind.

In short, the facilities either don't exist at all or they are too far away for to be practical, or locked up for the summer.

So here we are, the sport official with the most gear to deal with, the only sport official who needs two different uniforms (plate and base) and the sport official who quite often works the longest (Double headers) without the facilities that even a volley ball ref (who often arrives dressed and just needs to change his shoes) gets to use.

Ah....the glamor of an umpire's life.

[Ranger]

Garth described my dressing room logistics perfectly.

Most of our colleges provide dressing rooms. We can use them quite regularly even in the fall season. Often times they are not convenient and some crews prefer to use their cars even when they have traveled great distances. Even conference weekend crews prefer to go back to the hotels about half the time.

For high school games they are usually available but, as Garth says, they are too out of the way.

Summer leagues, even including summer collegiate leagues, make no provision for facilities.

Most umpires have gotten used to this situation and do not mind that much. The problems are that there is no real privacy for crew discussions and civilian females are occaisionally inconvenienced.

[dani]

How about a designated area or parking space that is selected prior to the season by the umpires. At least this would alleviate the need to search for a space when the parking lot is full, etc.

[Rog]

I seem to recall an umpire who the school called the police on because he was changing clothes in the parking lot; yet, no facilities are available for this purpose! A M A Z I N G

[Ranger]

No good answer but,

dani's idea probably would bring some uninvited guests to the umpires "locker room" which could cause an ugly scene or worse.

Associations can work to make the best of this situation, but as good as it could get, I doubt that the umpires will ever go too far out of their way to achieve a higher level of privacy an modesty.

[Hugo Tafurstnow]

Originally posted by dani
How about a designated area or parking space that is selected prior to the season by the umpires. At least this would alleviate the need to search for a space when the parking lot is full, etc.

Unless the area is patroled, I would be hesitant to leave my car unattended in an area marked UMPIRE PARKING. I like my car and all the tires!

[Bfair]

Went to a H.S. playoff game at neutral site. Coach of host school was nice enough to allow us to use his office (players had locker rooms). To my dismay my new partner in this split crew lights up a smoke in the coach's office, leans back in the chair with his feet up on the desk, and says let's talk about our coverage. I said I will meet you outside to discuss that and put my belongings in my vehicle. Unfortunately, some people cannot conduct themselves appropriately for the situation. It's unlikely the coach would offer his office again in the future.

[cmcallm]

At the University of Illinois this Spring, a conference weekend crew using the faculty lockerroom (big, secure, new, showers, lockers, NICE) came in after a rainy night and basically left the room a muddy mess. The rest of the year umpires were relegated to a public lockerroom in the tennis building farther from the field. All they had to do was take off their shoes before they went in the room - show a little respect for the facility. One step forward, two steps back. An upire lockerroom won't be in the U of I plans in the near future.

PS That crew was reprimanded. And the rest of us were punished, too...