Glen,
How many fingers have you got to be able to count that high? :)
mick

No, I was way over 21, around double.

Dakota,
Just make sure she knows the basics and I can't imagine she doesn't. I like the idea above about practicing mechanics to help her look experienced. More important, make sure she knows that it doesn't matter if every call is wrong in her first game. After a few, the coaches will give up. :D
A quick prayer is on the way.

Will her handle be "Little Dakota" or IceBlueTwo?

I started working baseball (10-13yo using 75' bases and pro rules) at the age of 14. Other than a few idiot coaches who thought they knew more than anyone just because they were players, I really didn't have any problems through the years.

Thirty-seven years later, still dealing with the idiots who know it all because they are players and a few know-it-all because they watch baseball on TV and have been playing the lowest level of ball available for years.

Personally, I think your daughter should have been wearing a better helmet. Obviously there is some brain damage here. :)

<b> H U H </b>

Tom,

Here is an ugly thought....Suppose her first two teams are
being coached by either Bucket, Atindel, or worse yet Sam.

{Do not mean SamC}

But then it would be nice to see any of them tossed by a
rookie umpire. :D

Thanks for all the encouragement and helpful suggestions, as well as the, ummm, humor!

Mike, I don't think a stronger helmet would have helped - I think it's genetic...

Glen, fortunately the fastpitch coaches around here are pretty laid back. I doubt she'll have any guff from anyone until she gets into her first tournament. Although I would enjoy being on the bases and watching one of those three get tossed by a 16 yo kid!

Skahtboi, I, too, was much older when I umpired my first game - 40!. This will be my fourth year, and I hope to be doing this for quite a few years to come.
I also had a daughter try umpiring for the first time last year, and she says she'll not do that again. She enjoys playing the game too much for right now, and will probably coach after college.
Hubby started umpiring last year at age 44. He had played and coached up until then.

I like the idea of a more experienced umpire being on the field with the teenaged ones. I had a similar situation in a girls fastptich league a couple summers ago where I was the home plate, and my assignor's stepdaughter worked the bases. Coach didn't like a call she made so he went barrelling out at her and she had the deer in the headlights look. I jogged over, hoping the coach saw me out the corner of his eye. He did and hightailed it back to the coach's box. I then asked him what was the matter and he said never mind. Later, my assignor said that the coach admitted he didn't want to be toe to toe with a guy who looks like he was a linebacker in high school or something.

Well, I guess I'm part of the Senior class as far as starting goes. I was 41 when I gave up coaching and started calling. I've never looked back. It has been a blast. Been calling 8 years now and I look forward to every game, now matter age or level of ability. Dakota, I hope your daughter enjoys it as much as the rest of us do.

As I mentioned earlier, I "cut my softball teeth" with Men's Fastpitch. We had a young lady who would come umpire with me about once a week. She was an excellent player of the game (D-I quality) and a very good umpire. These guys used to think they could intimidate her, to the point of actually getting in her face (she was only 5'1" and weight about 100 pounds soaking wet). I guess they thought that since she was a female they could intimidate her. She never let them get to her though. She would calmly ask them to back away, and they eventually got the point. To be honest, she's much better at umpiring than I am, but I had half the problems. I guess being 6'2" and tipping the scale at nearly 300 pounds they never really wanted to mess with me (although I'm as quiet as a mouse...really!) Why is that?

I have actually worked a game where Sam was the coach. I had no trouble at all with him and there were some times in the game where he could have made a stink if he wanted to.

He is just stuck on the strike zone thing and is stubborn about it. But he's actually a nice guy.

First time umpiring
 

Hey guys, long time no see. Plus I'm jumping on an old thread. Anyways, when I started umping almost 4 years ago, i was but a youngin' only 14. I've only really worked 10s and 12s around here because of my conflicting schedule with games and such. But last year I worked my first 16s game, plate even and I got a lot of compliments on it. But when I started first game was bases and second was plate. My dad was an ump but he really didn't help me too much and the umpires I generally worked with didn't really either. Don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes it appeared I had the more knowledge on the field. Recently I've worked with a girl who's about 4 years older than me and we work pretty good together. We each have over 10 years of ball experience so most people here in podunk Nebraska don't get too hostile with things. Granted I haven't worked too many high strung games, I think I've been allowed to grow as an umpire just by going out there and doing it. For me persoanlly I get better as I go because I gain confidence in myself. But thats just me.

lildani, what part of Nebraska are you from? Must be somewhere in the boondocks because I haven't had fans/players/coaches like that since I moved to the big O.

FUBLUE, I think size scares people. I've had coaches bigger than I am who are never afraid to approach me and discuss something, while coaches who are "smaller" than I are always coming out screaming and hollering, hoping to gain the advantage. Must be a Billy Martin thing.

I think you're right, but I don't try to use it. Once a coach knows me (as most coaches in this area do) they realize I'm a really mild-mannered guy. I know I'm large, but I don't use it against people.

It also goes both ways. Some coaches see me and say, "this guy is big, so he must be slow and bad." either that, or they think I enjoy being yelled at. I work my butt off on the diamond (as anyone who has ever worked with me will testify to) and hustle on every play. But it takes a while for a coach to learn that just because I'm big doesn't mean I'm slow, or bad, or I'm going to let him yell at me like I'm a farm animal or something.