Association Politics

[rmiszta]

I work NFHS Fastpitch and ASA Slow Pitch. In NFHS, the training leaves a lot to be desired, however everyone seems nice, and they try to help, rather than punish anyone.
Now, I also do ASA Slow Pitch with adults to try and fill in the gap between Fastpitch and Volleyball, however I cannot get over the politics in the Association.
Get this, we have a UIC who cannot see or move. Our assistant UIC is good as well as 2 out of 3 review board members. The third review board member, who is supposed to lead by example, mainly works for another local church softball organization and has so many physical problems that he is lucky to get in front of the plate for a call at 3rd. Not too mention, he cannot even call the bases and never does.
Now, with the above, the association wants to fine umpires based on dress, timeliness, positioning, etc. Why not work with the people rather than fine them.
I am only worried about being fined for mechanics. My mechanics are flawless, but for when I call a banger at first base. I go to one knee, and in ASA, they get upset, or at least this association does. Never mind being dressed well, hustling all the time, managing a great game, making the right call consistently, but oh no..you go down on one knee and bam...$10 out of your pocket. What a bunch of crap. Anyone else have any fun family stories.

Bob 13 - $10.00 = Bob 3 soon to be Bob negative 7!!!

[IRISHMAFIA]

Dress, timeliness and hustle are very important. However, arrogance is something which certainly doesn't help.

Maybe you are not aware of this, but you don't even have to be an umpire to be a UIC in many states, metros or regions. There is a big difference between running an organization and a ball game.

I'm not big on fining folks for mechanics, but I certainly have a problem when you knowingly ignore the prescribed mechanics while patting yourself on the back.

The association is ASA, the teams are ASA, you are probably playing by ASA rules and wearing an ASA uniform and accepting money for providing an ASA game. So, what's your problem with providing the service for which they are paying?

There is a reason ASA doesn't want umpires to move to a less-than-mobile position. One thing is that is looks lazy, no better than your board member not getting out from the plate. It is also a concern since if there is a misplay at 1B, it is not a far reach for the runner to veer in your direction, which means that you will need to concentrate on getting out of the way while not covering a possible play at 2B. It is not impossible, I have seen it happen.

Sorry, but you are not willing to work the way they want you to, I don't believe you should be taking their money?

[rmiszta]

I agree with most of your thoughts Mike, however, I believe my getting down lower to see the play better at first is more of a personal adaptation of the mechanics, rather than a blatant betrayal. I can see the play better, the foot of the 1st baseman, etc and for some reason, I don't feel comfortable being in the upright ASA mechanic position.
Now, I also agree with your comments that you can get burned on an overthrow to first if you are down, as you need to get up and follow the runner to make a call at second. However, I have never had a problem with this before. I don't want this to sound arrogant, but be it as it may, I'm not the typical 50 year old smoker who weighs 230 pounds trying to hustle to keep up with the players. I am a 30 year old very fit ex division one football player and almost all of the players couldn't beat me to the play whether I was down or not.
I have turned down many a state tournaments out of town, but done many in town and always have been given praise. My whole point is that it baffles me an association would try to fine a good umpire, while they let the guy who looks terrible, with one bum knee who doesn't know the game well continue to work just because he is "doing his best". That is a good way in my eyes to loose good people and not give the players what they deserve.
Maybe I'm just on the soapbox tonight, but I have worked NSA and NFHS and never had this problem. By the way, the UIC is not doing any games this year, but he not the sharpest pencil in the drawer to run the organization either. It's nothing but a sympathy/popularity vote.

[SWFLguy]

I'm sorry to hear that your association seems to be
in atrophy ! I believe that sports officiating organizations need to have a regularly constituted change of officers in order to
prevent the stagnation that you descirbe. It happens all too often because younger members are apathetic about taking on
leadership roles-- or the "old guard" keeps an iron grip and
discourages new blood.
Looks like it is time for you and some of your other
"young Turks" to start making some changes !!
Good luck !

[Skahtboi]

Originally posted by rmiszta
I agree with most of your thoughts Mike, however, I believe my getting down lower to see the play better at first is more of a personal adaptation of the mechanics, rather than a blatant betrayal. I can see the play better, the foot of the 1st baseman, etc and for some reason, I don't feel comfortable being in the upright ASA mechanic position.

If this is the case, Bob, then I guarantee that with some minimal work you could easily adapt to the accepted ASA mechanics. There were some changes in the accepted mechanics in the way my association is calling Fed ball this year. Was I crazy about these changes? No. Have I adapted to them? Most certainly! They are the ones that are cutting my checks, so I will do it as they want me to. Same goes for ASA, USSSA, or any other association that I opt to call for.

Scott

[greymule]

My association enforces only the paying of dues and the taking of tests. Every year, they remind everyone of the proper uniform and hand out the umpires' manual, but nobody actually enforces dress or mechanics.

We may be unusual in that most of our umps concentrate in certain areas and seldom move outside them. Each of the various domains (girls' FP tournaments, individual township rec leagues, SP tournaments, modifed, etc.) is covered by a certain group of umps who seem to set their own standards, and that's it. The standards are high in some places, low in others.

Problems do arise when umps move outside their group. Last year, for example, to cover a very large (350+ teams) SP tournament, we had to beg people to ump and had to bring in people from outside our area. So on one field we'd have two well-dressed umpires, and on another we'd have one guy in black jeans, a blue sweatshirt, and work boots working with a guy wearing shiny blue gym shorts, complete with drawstring hanging down, combined with a blue dress shirt and white sneakers. Some wore not a single piece of ASA uniform, and the clothes they did wear looked as if they had been in the center of a turnpike toll booth lane for a week. Some mechanics fell under the category of "rocking chair."

We have about 125 umps in our association. However, if you take out the ones who refuse to do SP unless it's the Unitarian Church versus the Montessori School, the ones who can work only on Wednesdays but have to leave by 7:30, the ones who will do only "cake" games, and the ones who work their one evening a week in their one league, there are really about 35 conscientious full-time umps who make an effort to dress and work professionally.

The local Fed association does enforce dress (with small fines), and they emphasize mechanics heavily.