Future of Officiating

[cpa]

Being a senior official working with a younger (less experienced) person can be very rewarding and fun, if you approach it with the right attitude -- and the younger person does also. One of your first responsibilities, if you're gonna facilitate umpire development, is to try and avoid all the crappy, negative things mentioned about seniors above.

Every danged one of us owe -- if we are senior enough to be senior -- our development to the previous generation. Somebody mentored you and took an interest and helped you get where you are know -- and it's time to pay it back by developing umpires who'll still be working in 2050.

A rookie cop on the street has the same authority as a 30 year veteran working beside him -- so does a rookie teacher or a rookie judge or many ofher authoritative positions. It would be ludicrous to believe that because the they are in equal positions that the rookie cop should perform all his duties without benefitting from the veteran's experience.

Likewise, when I work w/ a rookie, I often learn new ways of looking at things, occasionally a new mechanic -- things that they have been exposed to.

Really, it comes down to the attitude of the senior and the junior -- either one can defeat the whole learning experience by coppiing an attitude.