suggestions on starting an association

[scyguy]

In my area we have no association and he get our games directly from AD's. I'm not completely sure why I want to try and start an association, but if I do, what suggestions can you guys give me to make it successful.

This is what I thought I might try to do. Maybe sometime in early Sept, have four or five college level umps come down and put on a clinic. Have a morning to work on plate mechanics in the cage, work on base and plate positioning on the field. Maybe if we have time some situational strategies, rule interp, etc. Then in the afternoon, bring in three teams to play each other and have the participating umpires work a few innings while being evaluated by the big dogs.

I thought if I could bring in some of the umpires in this area, we could work on unifying our mechanics. This way we would be more familiar with each other when we show up at a game and are working together.

While at the clinic I was going to propose the idea of an area assocation. The main objective would be that we have an avenue for communication. If we have open dates or need to help AD's find someone, then we will have a list of people to choose from.

Problems:

Is it necessary?
How could I motivate umpires to want to come to clinic?
How much would I charge?
How much should I pay the clinicians?
What would be a good name for the association?
(we live in south central Missouri)