Future of Officiating

[GarthB]

It is a balancing act.

When working with a new or weak partner I'll have an intensive pregame and concentrate on game management.

I'll tell him to feel free to come to me with any questions or if he feels he's getting "in trouble." I'll tell him that I will come to him and speak privately if I feel he has made a mistake in rules, but I will not come to him in regards to any judgment calls unless he invites me. I also tell him that I will leave his game management up to him unless it appears that a situation could get out of hand, at which time I will, again, privately give him my opinon on handling the situation.

The only time I'll step in unvited is if he has ejected someone and they need to be lead away, he gets into a two on one situation and someone needs to be peeled off, it appears he is experiencing a melt-down, or to do otherwise jeopardizes someone's safety or the completion of the game. I won't throw him under the bus, nor will I let him unknowingly climb under one.

[ManInBlue]

I like what I've read to this point. I must agree with what has been said as well. I'd like to think that I, too, handle it the same way. However, I am (in HS) one of the younger "less experienced" umpires. I get into more crap because of the older, "I've been doin' this for 15 years" folks than I care to mention.

The problem around here isn't the new guys don't know what to do. There are very few new umps in either association. The problem is that the old farts have been around for a while, doing things wrong, and don't know any better. It's harder to tell "Pops" he's an idiot and doesn't do things right than it is to tell "Little Johnny" what he's doing wrong, or could do to improve.

[mattmets]

As a young guy who is looking to make a career out of this whole umpiring thing, and has tried to absorb as much about every aspect of umpiring as he can, I think I have a little different perspective on this.

Our association works games from Willie Mays up to 18-19 year old ball, where the kids are some guys I played in high school with. A lot of guys I work with say they can't find people who are willing to work some of the "shaving age" ball we have, but I have no problem doing it. As I see it, any chance I get to walk on the field and learn something- whether it's from a partner, a situation with a coach, or something I pick up on myself and tell myself I have to work on.

Having said that, we have a couple of guys who come in every half-inning and always have something to say. I'm not arrogant enough to think I know everything, but I know where I'm supposed to be with R1/R3 on a fly ball with one out. However, if I know I've screwed something up, but I don't know how to fix it, I'm more than willing to go to an older guy and ask about it. Problem is, we also have a lot of guys who don't really like to help younger guys. Fortunately, we have a few older guys who ask all their partners if they noticed anything wrong with the game. Just because an umpire is younger doesn't mean he can't pick up on something the veteran may have been a little lax in.

I guess the point in what I'm saying is that there has to be give and take. When I'm PU, I expect my BU, whether a veteran or a rookie, to let me run my game and step in if I have a problem. Likewise, if I'm BU, I'll let the PU do things his way unless I need to step in. When I'm working with a veteran, I consider him a resource, not my father. I don't expect to be criticized on everything I do wrong. I expect to be told I'm wrong, but I also believe that I should be able to ask follow-up questions and get an explanation as to why what I did was wrong. We have to remember that we're the only ones out there who like us.

If there's a shortage of officials and you want to attract and retain younger guys, you can't alienate them. The younger ducklings need to be able to find their own footing, but you can't have the older, wiser guys not wanting to have anything to do with them.

[D-Man]

Where'd you find this article?

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by D-Man

Where'd you find this article?

http://www.officiating.com/

[CO ump]

Though we are an umpiring "team" we each have certain responsibilities that we must live up to. Making judgement calls within our pervue and dealing with the HC regarding that call is one of the basics of individual responsibility we have as officials.
It's much like any player on the baseball "team", when he's up to bat he's on his own. No one can do it for him, he hits or strikes out on his own abilities. No one has thrown him under the bus if he strikes out. Training and advice can be given after the fact but he's on his own during the AB. If he continues to strike out maybe he's just playing at the wrong level.

The pitcher is like the ump making rule interps, as long the interps are good it's like an unhittable fast ball and everthing is cool. If an interp is faulty the pitch gets hit and now the "team" is needed to step in, field the ball and get the out(correct interp) and then the ball is given right back to the pitcher.

Kind of a corny way of saying I agree with Garth and Lomump.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by CO ump

Kind of a corny way of saying I agree with Garth and Lomump.

And lengthy too!