How about an opinion:

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

Schools will most likely NOT want to pay for an umpire evaluator in addition to the crew. These evaluators should get some form of compensation otherwise they would simply do games and forget about evaluating.

In my plan, the organization pays for the first evaluation for every umpire. Anything else is a game fee to be paid by the umpire requesting the evaluation. If both umpires want their second eval at the same game, they can share the cost.

[Blindguy]

Asking a coach about umpire performance is a way to rate an official, not improve officiating. In our state, coaches do rate officials. The coaches get to pick which officials work their playoff games. Coach puts you on his list, you just got rated. Not one coach puts you on his list, you just got rated. We pay dues to organizations which take on the responsibly of education and training. I believe that most veteran (>3 years experience) officials do very little to try and better their game. Our chapter meetings are obligatory and hold no value. People do not ask questions because the questioning official looks ignorant. I believe the question posed should be: How do we energize the veteran official? The best summer games in my area are tournaments, not league play. Those tournament games are assigned to what is believed to be inferior officials, officials who do not belong to the local high school or college association. (And they don’t even shine their shoes) Some of these games determine which teams will go to the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, NM. Some consider the CMWS to be the top amateur baseball in the land. I note the importance of the games to show perhaps the difference between “Smitty” and our selves is not as great as we would like to believe. So transparent, a TD of a very important tournament is willing to use “Smitty” to save ten bucks. I think our local organizations should use some of our dues to help defray the cost of a real clinic. A clinic put on by professional umpires. Film of a live game (scrimmage, so umpires could be rotated) should be mandatory. I should get more for my dues than just a rule book at the beginning of the year. My opinion: There is not one single thing that would improve ones performance more than film of a live game. Asking a coach about your performance is not constructive criticism.

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by Blindguy

Asking a coach about umpire performance is a way to rate an official, not improve officiating. In our state, coaches do rate officials. The coaches get to pick which officials work their playoff games. Coach puts you on his list, you just got rated. Not one coach puts you on his list, you just got rated. We pay dues to organizations which take on the responsibly of education and training. I believe that most veteran (>3 years experience) officials do very little to try and better their game. Our chapter meetings are obligatory and hold no value. People do not ask questions because the questioning official looks ignorant. I believe the question posed should be: How do we energize the veteran official? The best summer games in my area are tournaments, not league play. Those tournament games are assigned to what is believed to be inferior officials, officials who do not belong to the local high school or college association. (And they don’t even shine their shoes) Some of these games determine which teams will go to the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, NM. Some consider the CMWS to be the top amateur baseball in the land. I note the importance of the games to show perhaps the difference between “Smitty” and our selves is not as great as we would like to believe. So transparent, a TD of a very important tournament is willing to use “Smitty” to save ten bucks. I think our local organizations should use some of our dues to help defray the cost of a real clinic. A clinic put on by professional umpires. Film of a live game (scrimmage, so umpires could be rotated) should be mandatory. I should get more for my dues than just a rule book at the beginning of the year. My opinion: There is not one single thing that would improve ones performance more than film of a live game. Asking a coach about your performance is not constructive criticism.

Very interesting points. Great first post. Welcome to the board.

[JJ]

[QUOTE=Blindguy;687432]I think our local organizations should use some of our dues to help defray the cost of a real clinic. A clinic put on by professional umpires. Film of a live game (scrimmage, so umpires could be rotated) should be mandatory. I should get more for my dues than just a rule book at the beginning of the year. My opinion: There is not one single thing that would improve ones performance more than film of a live game. [QUOTE]

Every October there is a clinic in Central Illinois that limits enrollment to 30. Participants are video taped umping plate and bases in a Junior College round-robin Fall tournament. Umpires are rotated in and out every couple of innings and get multiple opportunities to work. Critique is "voiced-over" during the video taping, and once the umpire is done on the field he takes his tape to another evaluator who screens it with him, taking in the on-tape suggestions and adding whatever he feels relevant. At the end of the camp, each umpire critiques the camp, the instructors, and gets to take his video home. All of the instructors are either Minor League umpires, former Minor League umpires, or strong D-1 umpires with many years of experience.
It would be great if there could be a clinic of this value in every state in the union.

JJ