How Would You Handle This as U1?

[blueump]

Originally Posted by chapmaja

Please tell me they did not bring this "trainer" from downstate.

Actually just the opposite. He's from "up north".

[SWFLguy]

Certainly doesn't give you much faith in the system that selects "trainers" for a sport. You did well to keep your cool and fix things after a nightmarish incident.That's something no "trainer" can teach a sport's official.

[CecilOne]

Obviously we all agree that this is the case the umpire jeopardy rule was written for.

Now, there is no "C" position in 3 ump mechanics and I'm pretty sure not on 4 ump either. Please clarify.

Did the coach complain or ... about the way he was talked to?

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

Obviously we all agree that this is the case the umpire jeopardy rule was written for.

Now, there is no "C" position in 3 ump mechanics and I'm pretty sure not on 4 ump either. Please clarify.

Did the coach complain or ... about the way he was talked to?

Michigan uses two umpires only from the districts through at least the regionals, if not all the way through the finals.

I think the confusion lies with the terms he used. Often times in a two umpire system the U1 is the PU and U2 is the base umpire. Given the description I suspect this was the alignment.

[blueump]

Originally Posted by chapmaja

Michigan uses two umpires only from the districts through at least the regionals, if not all the way through the finals.

I think the confusion lies with the terms he used. Often times in a two umpire system the U1 is the PU and U2 is the base umpire. Given the description I suspect this was the alignment.

2-man system through quarter finals. 3-man starts at semi-finals.

[BoomerSooner]

I've seen mistakes like this made intentionally by trainers, but not in games with anything on the line. I initially thought that might be the case until I saw the "district championship game" part of the initial post. I really hope this wasn't the case of an intentional mistake for training purposes given what was at stake for the teams.

If this were in a camp or some other instructional environment, I appreciate having an umpire intentionally mess something up so we can train on how to fix it. Obviously the goal is to never make a mistake in the first place, but we can look really foolish if we don't know how to fix it properly. This concept is especially helpful with HS basketball with the correctable error rules, where sometimes the most complex part of fixing the error is determining if it qualifies as a correctable error.

[Crabby_Bob]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

I've seen mistakes like this made intentionally by trainers, but not in games with anything on the line. I initially thought that might be the case until I saw the "district championship game" part of the initial post. I really hope this wasn't the case of an intentional mistake for training purposes given what was at stake for the teams.

If this were in a camp or some other instructional environment, I appreciate having an umpire intentionally mess something up so we can train on how to fix it. Obviously the goal is to never make a mistake in the first place, but we can look really foolish if we don't know how to fix it properly. This concept is especially helpful with HS basketball with the correctable error rules, where sometimes the most complex part of fixing the error is determining if it qualifies as a correctable error.

Shouldn't the trainer be showing the correct way?

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by chapmaja

I think the confusion lies with the terms he used. Often times in a two umpire system the U1 is the PU and U2 is the base umpire. Given the description I suspect this was the alignment.

OH, so U1 = PU, U2 = BU in our usual terms. Thanks.

[BlueDevilRef]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

Now, there is no "C" position in 3 ump mechanics and I'm pretty sure not on 4 ump either. Please clarify.

This was my first thought as well. Wrong rotated position and wrong rule application. I'd find training elsewhere.

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by SWFLguy

Certainly doesn't give you much faith in the system that selects "trainers" for a sport. You did well to keep your cool and fix things after a nightmarish incident.That's something no "trainer" can teach a sport's official.

There isn't much to the idea of "trainers" in Michigan. In fact, to be honest, it can be a joke as to who is allowed to become an official in Michigan for most sports. Send in your money, take a test about the MHSAA policies, and get your patch and registration equipment. This applies to all sports except football and basketball. For those sports only, you have to pass an officials exam in the sport as well. All of the tests are open book.

To be selected for a post-season assignment, you must have a certain rating (and number of ratings over 3 years), plus be a member of an approved association in that sport and have reviewed the online rules meeting for that year. To work regional and QF,SF, Final games you must have passed a sport specific exam (open book).

It doesn't take much to become an official up here. Sadly, in many cases, post-season assignments on not how good an official you are, but who you know. For districts, the individual district hosts get to choose the officials from a list of approved officials. Sometimes, if a district host is late to the party so to speak, you get what's left.

As for becoming a trainer. In Michigan we have training done by local approved associations in most sports, not by the MHSAA. This means the local associations decide who is going to be the trainer. Often times this is a well respected official who knows the rules and how to apply them. Sometimes however this is a person who happens to be available to do the job, and may have no clue. The MHSAA requires trainers to attend an onsite meeting once every two years and do an online meeting every non-on site year.

We do have some organizations that do a wonderful job with training officials, then others who are terrible.