Insured or Not
 

There are a few slow pitch softball leagues in our area that are not affiliated with ASA. A few of our ASA registered unpires refuse to work this league wearing their ASA gear because the league isn't registered with ASA. We have a few guys who could care less and claim
they are insured through NASO and they are willing to work. Are the NASO guys insured ???? If so outside of ASA tournaments what is the point of their insurance if the NASO insurance is valid ???

Look forward to hearing some opinions.....

How much less could they care? :)

If they purchased insurance from NASO, I would assume they would know whether they were insured or not. I can tell you their are not insured through ASA.

My understanding is that as long as you are officiating a game that was assigned to you, you are covered if you have NASO. If you do an "unofficial game" such as a pick up game or a game which was declared a forfeit but they would like you to stay for a practice game, you are not covered.

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That part which I underlined is a myth, unless you or your assignor simply wants you to be unprotected. I have spoken over time with the people at NASO insurance, and with Bollinger, the USA/ASA insurance administrators, and that supposed excuse why umpires really just want to leave is bogus. Any official assigned by their organization assignor is covered for whatever is assigned; whether it is a league, a tournament, a practice game, a scrimmage, and YES, a practice game which was originally a scheduled game but is declared a forfeit. If you are still being paid, you CAN umpire what is there to umpire. This does also covers games that you pick up independently, but ONLY if it is common practice in your area to contract independently versus thru an assignor.

A few things that should be noted is that while NASO does provide some great liability and legal defense coverage, it does not provide any accidental medical coverage for the officials. If injured while officiating, you need to have your own medical insurance, unless you are covered by another "sanction" or umbrella officiating policy which covers you in that particular event. The issue of coverage with USA/ASA (and others, too, although some do, at least, offer optional coverage for other sanctions) is it only covers if the teams and the umpires are all registered to that sanction.

To the OP, if there is no league ball in that area that registers USA, just leagues that are nonsanctioned, then yes, USA registration and umpire insurance is only good for USA sanctioned tournaments. That's a decision/calculation each umpire group (or individual umpires) needs to make based on cost versus reward for USA (or USSSA, or any other sanction) for what you stand to gain. But the NASO insurance leaves a pretty significant gap in coverage (accidental medical) that they/you might need to consider.

Being retired military, I have health coverage through Tricare. So my insurance through my NASO membership is sufficient for me not to worry about getting additional redundant insurance through Bollinger.

If a league is not USA Softball sanctioned, I wouldn't wear the USA Softball gear to begin with. I would just wear shirts, hats and ball bags with no logos.

My local high school association mandates that we have USA Softball insurance and they spend some of our dues to buy it on our behalf. However, I have only worked 2 ASA/USA Softball games in my career. I typically work USSSA or Pony because very few teams near me play any other code. I would be happy to skip the insurance, as a result, but since we use USA Softball uniforms for HS games and the association assigns several USA slow pitch leagues (far away from where I live) the requirement isn't going away. So I will continue to carry it.

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Violates NFHS rules if that is what you are using.
Also, wearing USA SB uniforms for unsanctioned games.

Don't get me started...

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It's not just a local thing in Connecticut. This is out of their Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Handbook:

So apparently the use of softball umpires in CT high school ball are affiliated with USA Softball.

We are too in our Association, but we know two sets of rules, attend clinics for both, and wear uniforms by each book.

We have 2 clinics as well

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Members of the NFHS Officials Association receive insurance for ALL levels of sports recognized by the state high school association. This covers youth as well as adult sports and is not restricted to high school games.

So, since MSHSL recognizes fastpitch softball, I am covered by the NFHS insurance if I officiate women's fastpitch (for example), but not men's (since MSHSL does not recognize boys fastpitch).

NFHS Officials Association insurance covers general liability and excess accident medical. For accident medical, you are first covered by your own insurance (e.g. through your day-job employer), and the NFHS insurance picks up where that leaves off. Insurance is provided by Dissinger Reed.

National Federation of State High School Associations - Dissinger Reed

I've never had to file a claim, so my knowledge is based purely on what I have read, not what I have experienced.

However, it does mean that when I register with USA, I am double paying for insurance I don't need, and unless I was going to officiate sports not recognized by the MSHSL, I certainly would not benefit from NASO insurance.

Good info.

Doesn't NASO provide more liability coverage?

Most local softball associations I've been with are the same. We worked JuCo and high school, as well as local rec leagues under ASA, Little League, and PONY. So we wore the appropriate logoed uniforms for the organization in question. We would never wear ASA stuff for high school ball, or vice versa.

I just find it odd that an official state high school manual would specifically list that their softball umpires come from an association that is affiliated with USA Softball. Why not just say the umpires come from Connecticut National Federation of Softball Umpires, and leave it at that? And is USA Softball okay with that fact?

The NFHS (and NCAA, for that matter) are affiliated members of USA Softball.

From what I understand, many state HS Governing bodies have agreements with individual officials associations to train officials and assign HS contests in their respective areas.

My assumption is that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has recognized and approved USA Softball of Connecticut to train and assign softball umpires. I don't believe this necessarily means that USA SB uniforms are to be worn when working HS games in CT.

Our local umpire association executive board is of the opinion that since we use the USA Softball insurance, we are obligated to wear the logo when umpiring HS softball. I live near the edge of the geographic area my association covers, however, and the umpires I see from other associations wear blank hats and plain blues, with no logos at all.

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What, are they concerned that an umpire who doesn't wear a logoed shirt is not going to be covered by USA Softball Insurance if something happens to him/her? I seriously doubt that should an umpire need to file a claim, there's a question on the claim paperwork that asks, "Were you wearing a proper ASA uniform when the incident occurred?"

And, for the record, I've never been told I had to wear a uniform with a NASO logo on it to be covered. And I've worked plenty of games wearing the ASA logo but don't have their insurance. I haven't been told that wasn't inappropriate. But I digress...

I know. It is nonsensical, but we do what the bylaws say.

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If you paid the ASA registration fee in your state (VA or SC), then you were automatically enrolled and covered by the ASA umpire insurance as a part of that registration; whether you were told that or not.

Wearing an ASA umpire uniform has no significance in the BollingerASA insurance program; the requirements are that all participants (teams and umpires) be registered, and that an approved ASA assignor (anyone the Commissioner says is approved) assign the games. It is up to the ASA Commissioner to verify and sign off on all these factors; I've been part of the process in approving these claims, and the uniform is absolutely not required. My Commissioner only asked me to confirm that I assigned the game to the claimant, and if I was made aware of the injury as part of that assignment.

As a former State UIC, I'm sure IrishMafia has had similar experiences.

Does USA consider scholastic ball a competitor? Some areas might be weird but I doubt you could find enough players during the scholastic season to field a traveling team.

USA/ASA has had a secondary (optional) insurance plan for registered umpires that covers when working other sports, and extends some softball coverages; it specifically excludes competitor softball games (ie, USSSA, NSA, etc.).

At the same time, it DOES state coverage for umpiring softball for high school, college, junior college, and SCMAF (in CA). I would take that to mean that USA Softball considers those as affiliated groups, not competitors.

I believe it to still be so, but it should also be noted that when all member of a USA(ASA) umpire organization is registered USA(ASA), Bollinger covers the association as a whole by default.

IMO, there is absolutely nothing nonsensical about the insurance situation. It is part of your registration and has stipulation just as every other insurance policy one purchases.

I know many umpires who have purchased additional insurances simply because they didn't understand what was or wasn't covered by the policies that came with registrations with various organizations. I used to try to talk about the ASA insurance as much as I could since I had first hand information. I never missed a session with Bollinger whether it was at a regional or national UIC clinic or a general council meeting. The folks from Bollinger were always happy to answer any questions. Unfortunately, I tired of looking at all the blank faces or people more interested in who was buying the next round, not that that isn't important :) Used to be the USA insurance covers the umpire to, from and during any ASA sanctioned event whether a game, meeting or social event. Don't know if that is still the case and/or if other policies have similar coverage.

In my years, I only had one umpire need to make a claim and Bollingers handled it without any problems and it didn't even involve umpiring. :)

This is from the Bollinger web site for USA Softball:

Umpire registration now includes coverage for officiating Scholastic (Middle School, High School, NFHS) and Collegiate (NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA) Softball events. It will not follow umpires when working other softball organizations. Therefore, this scholastic coverage will be eliminated from the Sports Officials Insurance Plan.

As Steve touched upon, I made it quite clear that there would be no insurance fraud on my behold. Straight forward with everyone that there would be no lies told to "cover" for someone working outside the system or were not registered.

More information here.