Looking Young

[Rcichon]

Give it all a rest for a moment.

I've been officiating for twelve straight years, UIC for the last three, been to and conducted numerous clinics.

I can call a game at any position with a fair knowledge of what it is I am responsible to do and call. Even with all of that, most members of this group far outweigh my knowledge and experience level. Yours too, that's why you consulted them as I do.

I come here for the things I do not know that I should know. So do you.

Like every piece of advice anyone offers you: take the advice and use it for what it is worth. If you consider yourself a student of officiating, [as in always learning] you will find value in every piece of advice given you.

When you seek counsel from your peers and then criticize that very counsel, you betray yourself.

[piaa_ump]

Sorry if I sound cold hearted today, but my friend, you just have to get over it.........descrimination is a part of life........especially in officiating...and Im not saying its right, but if you have been an umpire for any period of time you will have to have seen some of it in action........

How you deal with it is what separates you from the rest...........in sports officiating to have some descrimination come your way you only have to be too short, too fat,too skinny, have facial hair, glasses, long hair, short hair, no hair, an accent, too old, too young, be female, be white, black or asian, be new to officiating, be a long time vet of officiating.......

The one constant thing about descrimination in sports officiating is that it does not descriminate...........depending on who is doing the evaluation, no one is 100% immune.........

what can you do?........do the best you can. The rest will take care of it self........If a TD or league does not want me, I will not lose one game over it........there are plenty of games to go around.

[BigUmp56]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Actually I have been very good about keeping my feelings on these other officials to myself. I've seen tons of bad umpiring ie calling the pitch before it hits the mit, calling it way too low, etc. I do mention some of these things to one of my umpiring friends, and sometimes my assignor and I discuss other umpires, but I would have to believe that just about everyone else in my association does the same thing. Do you never discuss other umpires' weak points?

I seriously hope you can see the contradiction here. You're obviously not doing a very good job of keeping your feelings to yourself if you're discussing them with everyone else.


Tim.

[Jurassic Referee]

Everybody's wrong and he's right.

Same old, same old.

Got a whole lot of growing up to do, and it may never happen......

[bob jenkins]

I was at a basketball camp this year and the topic of a lecture was "moving up." The key point was that sometimes we don't know why we get, or don't get, the "promotion" or "big game" -- we can have a "great year" by any objective standard, and still find our schedule reuduced the next year.

All we can do is control what we can control and let the rest take care of itself. Note that this applies not only to how we work the games, but how we comport ourselves in person and on-line.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Your thoughts?

If you umpire like you post, "they" have many reasons for not inviting you to work a higher level.

If you are an excellent umpire, but put forth the perception in real life that you do here, "they" still have reasons for not inviting you to work a higher level.

If you are an excellent umpire, and for some reason only act like you do here, here, then your looks shouldn't hold you up.

My younger son also looks four or five years younger than his age, but he worked high school varsity at 17 and the state varsity tournament, the state legion tournament, and some college ball at 20.

[SAump]

"The names by which things are called are important in shaping our interpretation of reality. People are often surprised to discover that historical labels which define the past are inventions of later scholarship and ideology, not parts of the past itself."

You join an umpire association and think your looks are holding you back.
I suppose the ugly ole geezers should look UP to you.
Pay your dues or quit like everyone else.
There is no overnight pill.

[mrm21711]

Originally Posted by GarthB

If you umpire like you post, "they" have many reasons for not inviting you to work a higher level.

If you are an excellent umpire, but put forth the perception in real life that you do here, "they" still have reasons for not inviting you to work a higher level.

If you are an excellent umpire, and for some reason only act like you do here, here, then your looks shouldn't hold you up.

My younger son also looks four or five years younger than his age, but he worked high school varsity at 17 and the state varsity tournament, the state legion tournament, and some college ball at 20.

You may have some potential but Im sure you are quite raw & unpolished. You have also made some foolish posts in the past, perception = reality canada6

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

I had a feeling that I was being held back in my association from higher level games, because of my age and not looking very old. Now I realized that that is the truth. My assignor sent an email invitation to do university baseball to all the qualified umpires in my city. I emailed him asking him why I didn't get this email, and he told me that because I look 5 years younger than 19, it may set me up for a lot of trouble.

Personally I could give a rat's *** about age and appearnace. There are many 30+ year veterans in my league that I know I am head and shoulders above.

But I mean come on. Is "looking too young" all that the league has against me? How about some comments on mechanics, strikezone, uniform, positioning and rulebook knowledge. But no, they have to judge a book by its cover and no matter what my ratings might be in all of the important categories, I am a writeoff because I look young. Just a pathetic excuse if you ask me. Your thoughts?

It is a pathetic excuse. He should be right upfront with you and tell you that you are simply not ready yet. And also tell you why. Judging from your posts here, you are not even close to being mature enough to work upper level games of any kind. They'd chew you up and spit you out. You're at least 5 years away experience-wise, and the jury is still out as to whether you'll ever mature enough to become an asset to your umpire's group.

I say that as someone who has been training and assigning officials in two different sports for a long, long time.

There's also no doubt in my mind that you'll also simply dismiss everything that the experienced umpires will tell you in this thread.

You'd be a heckuva lot better off if you'd only learn to shut your mouth and listen for a change.

JMO....feel free to ignore it.

[MD Longhorn]

Canadacoach, I echo the thoughts of my brethren here. Just based on your errant posts, odd opinions, and victim attitude (not just on this post, but others), I would not guess that you are ready for those games at all. Experience is not just knowing where to stand or what to look for ... it's also how to handle (and not BE handled by) coaches and adversity ... it's also how you work with (and not against) your partners, your willingness to learn as much as teach. I think you have a ways to go here. Your young appearance is joined by your youngish attitude, and is likely only half of the story.

[ManInBlue]

Canada, I don't know you from Adam's house cat but let me ask one question. All ability, knowledge, etc set aside...Do think a college coach that's gone toe to toe with some of the best umps in the country will give two hoots what you can do when he sees what looks like a snot nosed 15 year old, still wet behind the ears kid walk onto HIS field? He'll be on you until you're back in diapers. It'd be a Rat's greatest dream come true.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Get the experience in game management and keep improving. You'll get the games when you are indeed ready. Your assignor obviously sees something that you are unaware of. Ask him to tell you, and tell him to be blunt and honest about it.

It seems that those have been around the board longer than I've been back on it have seen somethings for you to work on. Take their advice.

[PeteBooth]

The aforementioned seems to be a BIG problem with posters on the internet Forum these days.

You ask "Your thoughts" Receive them and then feel the need to respond to those thoughts because you are not getting the desired response.

When you ask for someone's thoughts, opinions etc. that's what they are going to give you.

You in turn either accept or reject, yet you keep responding so "in effect" you did not want their thoughts but wanted answers to agree with your perception of what happened to you.

Why the negativity in some responses?

For the most part people do not know you and can only judge on the quality and content of your posts. As Garth said your answers to various rule / mechanic questions throughout your time here leave something to be desired.

IMO, in order to answer properly we need to know what kind of umpire organization you are in and is there an abundance of baseball where you live.

Case and point: I am 51 but in my early years it was virtually impossible to get tournament games etc. no matter how good you were.

At that time there was HS, Legion and the rookie league - That's it. There was not the plethora of travel teams etc. which we have today. At that time the Vets wanted all those games to themselves. It was the good ole boy network at work and at that time they could cover all the games.

Here's my advice and this is what I did.

Seek out a mentor, one whom is fair and "knows the ropes" not only from a rules / mechanics situation but for game management.

I kept a note-book when I started not only on rules / mechanics but on coaches as well. I would "pick my mentor's brain" on how to handle certain coaches.

Also, a MUST if you want to improve - Be able to take constructive criticism which from your post here seems you have a problem with.

Seek out work no matter where. Again as I said above I do not know the "make-up" of your association or how many games there are to umpire.

Summary: If you want to "change your perception" seek out a mentor, read the rule book, study mechanics so that when you post in the future you not only give responses but something that "supports" your answer rather than give "off the cuff" responses which you have a tendency to do.

Pete Booth