A person has to be 18 and out of H.S. to call H.S. games in Michigan. To recruit young officials, the MHSAA provides a Legacy Program for H.S. Juniors to work under an experienced and older mentor and call M.S. and sub-varsity games.

So, if this 16-17 yo works 25 or 30 H.S. SB games in the spring, can he/she move into summer ball with his/her partner? Does ASA (or any of the other alphabet organizations) have minimum age restrictions?

WMB

No age limit that I am aware of, however, the ASA experts (i.e. Mike, Tom, Elaine,
and others) will be along later. As long as s/he has tested and registered,
and had some formal training, don't think there would be a problem. I would keep
them in age groups before their own, if possible.

No miniumu age that I am aware of - perhaps the insurance carrier has some restrictions.

Here, they offer reduced registration fees to umpires under 17 years old... trying to "hook em" while they're young, I guess!

My son umpired HS ball here in Nevada last year. He did only JV level games but was a registered ASA umpire the previous summer.

I do not believe there is an age restriction.

Nope. No age restriction for ASA here in PA as far as I know. I started when I was 15. PIAA wants HS umps to be 18 and a graduate of high school. I think they really are trying to grab 'em while they can. Guess that's how I got started.

Common sense. Like most other legal standing issues, the person must be 18 to be an ASA umpire. HOWEVER, ASA does offer an umpire youth program for those 18 and under. Of course, they receive the same training as the adult umpires, but must have written permission of that individuals parent or guardian.

I don't know about that legal "mumbo jumbo" (I haven't said that in a while.), but I think that is what I was a part of... maybe. I met with an assignor/umpire about once every two weeks or so to get assignments and to talk about what I needed to work on or any rules that I needed to brush up on. I even worked with him for a couple games. Not sure if this is what you're talking about, but it did help me to have a mentor. I still talk to him every so often just for old times.

I know that in these parts, all of the associations that I work with will not allow folks under 18 to umpire. I had always figured that to be due to insurance costs, so I naturally assumed that it was a national policy.

Dallas Metro has several umpires under the age of 18. They must attend the association training courses just like their senior counterparts. My local association has four very good youth umpires. Three currently play on local tournament teams. I'd rather call with them than some of the older "I've always done it that way" guys.

I had to call our Metro UIC last year to ask about minimum age because we had several youths interested in umping. I was told by our Houston metro office the minimum age was 14.