Second Play in Infield Positioning

[justanotherblue]

School gave me a solid foundation to work from. I worked games for five years before attending, I learned things that others officiating a great deal longer have never been taught. I also know from reading the CCA as well as attending other clinics since going to school, there are several ways to work on the field. Some with merit, some I have to raise an eyebrow at. I do agree, there are some things that truly don't matter, and some that work very well, and some that can be tweeked a tad. For nearly 30 years I worked in an ever evolving field. I learned a long time ago, you have to keep an open mind, evaluate things as they come, and most importantly don't be quick to judge. You just might miss something important if you do. Let me know when the article is done, I'd love to read it.

Oh yeah.. your welcome

[JJ]

I tell umpires at clinics that "these mechanics are not set in stone - they are guidelines" but "if a supervisor wants you to do something, do it".
After we all umpire for a number of years we find things that work better for us than for others, and we tweak our styles accordingly. Of course, these "guidelines" have been determined by very experienced umpires over a long period of time to be the best mechanics for large groups of umpires. The great supervisors recognize that occasional tweaking makes individual umpires even better.

JJ