ASA National Umpire School

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Gulf Coast Blue

Is Henry Pollard still doing any teaching..............he was an instructor at my first and was very entertaining.

Joel

To the best of my knowledge, Henry is not doing anything at the national level. He may be doing something locally in Central VA, but probably not a lot, if any.

[Steve M]

I went to a national school some years ago, in Philly, and thought it was well worth the time & expense. Not from what I learned at the school - that seemed, as others have noted, to be aimed at too low a level. Heck, I even found a volunteer catcher who had a hard time catching - I think he had a pitch bounce off of his knees

I want to highlight that the hospitality room was where the real benefit is. Where else can you have a 1-on-1 conversation with a NUS member -to say nothing of the regional or state uic's that are present?! I found a real benefit to this. And I met a number of other umpires from my region and others that confirmed some impressions and corrected a few misconceptions.

If you get a chance to go to one of these, go.

As for the advanced national school, maybe someday. Still too much going on now to take the time to attend.

[AtlUmpSteve]

Originally Posted by DaveASA/FED

He was working with someone trying to get them to get the wider heal to toe stance, paraphrasing but general idea:

Your plate stance is simple, its just like sitting on a barstool, then you lean forward a little bit to grab your beer. Only difference is the height of that bar stool changes with each batter.

Funny thing is I don't drink, but there was something in that description that has helped my stance become more comfortable. Can't really tell you what I am doing different but something has changed since i got that visual in my head and it feels a lot better.

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

I would think that sitting down to milk a cow is more definitive, but whatever works for you.

BTW, no leaning forward. My experience is that the shoulders will move forward without thought when you drop your hands down in front of you just for balance purposes. You start thinking about leaning in and all of a sudden that swoosh you hear is the bat passing your ear.

One point that comes out is that wording the same thing just differently often helps the message.

For whatever it is worth, I teach the visual to use is to sit down on a toilet. Same motion, just different wording that I find gets through to most.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Steve M

I went to a national school some years ago, in Philly, and thought it was well worth the time & expense. Not from what I learned at the school - that seemed, as others have noted, to be aimed at too low a level. Heck, I even found a volunteer catcher who had a hard time catching - I think he had a pitch bounce off of his knees

Maybe that is because the "batter" failed to follow then instructions given him. Any idea who that was, Steve?

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Maybe that is because the "batter" failed to follow then instructions given him. Any idea who that was, Steve?

Yeah, I think I remember that batter - had a history of ignoring/missing signs when I played, as I recall.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Steve M

Yeah, I think I remember that batter - had a history of ignoring/missing signs when I played, as I recall.

I'll see Bobby Monday night and tell him you said hello. Guess you should expect to feel your ears burning around 8:30 PM

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

I'll see Bobby Monday night and tell him you said hello. Guess you should expect to feel your ears burning around 8:30 PM

When you see him, Mike - tell him I really said hi. I didn't get to know him well, but he seemed like a good guy. I'll try to remember to hoist one - once I feel my ears burn