The Official Forum - Retaining Younger Umpires

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Dakota

MSF (MN ASA) schedules 3 or 4 of these around the state, so generally at least 1 is within a reasonable driving distance... I know, not an issue in DE! ;) The schools are paid for by the umpire registration fee, so there is no additional charge - you could go to a couple of them if you wanted to.

You would be shocked how many people whine about driving 40 minutes to a tournament/school. I understand the cost of fuel is an issue, but this has been gone on for years, not just lately.

In DE, the school is the ONLY time you pay for any training and is only required one time in the first three years of umpiring. It is $20 for first-time ASA registered umpires, $10 for returning ASA registered umpires and $25 for non-registered umpires.

98%+ mechanics. Rules rarely discussed as part of the school.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Thanks for sharing that training schedule with me. I like it and think I will try to get something similar......assuming there's no copyright infringement issues :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dholloway1962

Thanks for sharing that training schedule with me. I like it and think I will try to get something similar......assuming there's no copyright infringement issues :D

Actually, the national school and our state school share one of the original authors. So we had a good leg up on format and standards. Over the years, ideas and drills have been exchanged.

If the umpire pays attention, they can get a lot out of this school and, as previously noted, it shows on the field.

In the Phoenix area, we have put a mentoring program in place.

When we sign up a new umpire, s/he is assigned to a mentor, an experienced umpire that has agreed to be part of the program. We have a coordinator for the program to make sure that our mentors are teaching things correctly and not adding their own interpretations and mechanics. The mentee is assigned games (usually lower level tournament or rec league games) exclusively with their mentor for a period of time. If the mentee has any questions about rules or mechanics from a game they worked or observed, they are to contact their mentor. When the mentor feels that the mentee is ready - could be a week or two, could be a month or two, they are "released" to be assigned games in the same way as the rest of the group.

Our mentor coordinator has also requested that our association members donate any old or used equipment they have to help defer the start up costs for new umpires.

We also offer a two-day school each year, usually in September for new and returning umpires.

Darrell can provide more details if I have missed anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy

And that is fine when you have enough umpires available to schedule two-umpire games. However, when an association doesn't have that luxury, it is a tough catching up on things after the fact.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

And that is fine when you have enough umpires available to schedule two-umpire games. However, when an association doesn't have that luxury, it is a tough catching up on things after the fact.

I would attribute my feeling more comfortable with my fast pitch style to this. We do two person fastpitch games so I've worked with a lot of talented people. We do one person slowpitch games so I've been watched by one fellow.
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COLORADO MEDICAL MARIJUANA

When I was in Alaska, and called basketball, we used the mentor program that Andy referred to and it worked very well. The mentor would start using almost all the game management techniques and slowly turn it over to the rookie but would be right there if they needed to rodeo clown a coach.
Another thing to think about is to assign the rookie as the BU until they have made enough to cover part or all of the plate gear if money is an issue.
The biggest thing that has kept me motivated in softball is evaluations and feedback. Keep those coming and I'll keep coming back. We sure don't do this for the money so I see the common denominator as seeing each game, pitch and situation as a challenge. If the young umpire is motivated for the right reasons then that should help meet their needs for self improvement.