Plate Conference

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

1. Handshakes/player greetings

2. Umpire introductions - "Mr. Jacobs is your base umpire, I am Mr Sherwood your plate umpire"

3. Jewelry notification - mandatory in NYS

4 Sportsmanship notification - also mandatory

How long the two above take depends on the level/time of year - 7th/8th grade games early in the season: the cards get read, usually by team captains. By this time of the year, I get it done in two quick lines: "You all are aware of sportsmanship, right? You all know about no jewelry/hard objects, right?"

5. ground rules

we also have been told to remind teams about one minute in between innings, but I will usually take care of that talking to the coaches during our pregame chat/gossip session...

On a good day the plate conference is over in less than a minute! Had a partner last week, however, who took five excruciating long minutes to get it done.....