Deaf Tournaments

Someone asked me on another board about accomodations for deaf tournaments. Really, not much to accomodate.

The biggest thing I emphasize when I work these tournaments is holding our signals longer (if possible) and making them crisp and clear for as many to see.

Sometimes, for example, a 2nd to 1st double play, I may point to 2nd and signal the out when I start my pivot towards 1st to watch the play there, and then drop my arms just for a moment to show a pause before making a signal for the play at 1st.

The key is visibility.

As for the pregame meeting, not a problem for me because I'm deaf as well so communication isn't a problem. When I've had hearing umpires come in and work for me in these tournaments, I show them a few gestures they can use for these pregame meetings, such as tapping their heads and their tushie for heads and tails for the coin toss or the yapping hand gesture with a shaking head to emphasize we don't tolerate too much yapping.

These players are smart enough to figure it out, and I've rarely had problems, and the highest praise these players usually get is when the local umpires say these tournaments are the best they've ever worked. I know because my partners told me this last year after working one here.