National Tournament Weekend
 

We have just concluded a very busy national tournament weekend - any reports?

I was the umpire coordinator for the Women's C and D Slow Pitch Western Nationals this past weekend.

My first exposure at the NT level with a slow pitch event, so I really had to brush up on my SP rules and mechanics. Most SP around here is done with a single umpire, so 2 umpire mechanics were something I had to study up on.

My UIC asked me to help him as well with umpire evaluations and other duties so I was quite busy. We had four local area umpires that were at their first national tournament, so that was a bit of a challenge as well.

Overall, tournament went well, no major controversies on the field and all of the umpires grew during the tournament.

I always said that I never wanted the job of umpire coordinator due to all of the work involved, but I had a great experience and would do it again.

I UCed my 1st National this year as well, and my experience was very similar to yours. One really doesn't know the time involved prior to the tournament, along with the time involved during actual play. For 5 days I was on location from 1st pitch, to final pitch and had a great time (along with regular UC duties, my duties also included, line-up card approval, coin flips and assisting the UIC with evaluations.) The only negative was that the TD decided to follow 'code' and not compensate the UC. :(

But I would do it again as well.

Just out of curiosity, who does get compensated during tournament play besides the umpires? Do the TDs? How about other "admin" type folks who do things like maintain the brackets and schedules, operate the scoreboards, etc.

Yeah, I'm sure being a UC is painful. But if nobody else involved in running the tournament gets compensated, it wouldn't be right for the UC to get something, would it?

Don't get me wrong; I'm certainly not against the UC receiving something for his/her services. It's simply a matter of fairness and equitability, in my mind.

I would imagine it depends on the tournament. Here, it is not uncommon for the field prep teams to get paid (easier to get crews, who do a better job - typically high school age kids - than trying to round up volunteers). I don't know about TD's etc., but most (all?) of these tournaments are making money for somebody!

If the money is made by the local softball association, and people want to volunteer their time to help said local association, great. But volunteering should be (ahem) voluntary.

Umpiring is a professional skill, so paying for it seems reasonable to me. If a tournament wants to try going with volunteer UICs (or even volunteer umpires), nothing is stopping them. But, make no mistake, the money saved will be going to somebody.

The UIC gets paid the most, the Assistant UIC gets the 2nd most, I want to say it's about half of the UIC compensation and the UC job is almost always a volunteer position.

I was paid for my services as the UC, but only because our local association has a policy that the UC will be paid for any National Tournaments hosted by our association. It's just another cost of running the tournament

Wasn't much...worked out to about a dollar an hour for all of the time I spent before and during the tournament.

By ASA code, the UIC and the ASA rep are paid a defined amount. The code also requires official scorekeeepers, but does not say they must be paid. I have worked as a scorekeeper at a National Tournament twice and was paid for one and volunteered for the other. Our scorekeepers this past weekend were volunteers.

Some National Tournaments are run by a City Parks and Rec department. In that case, I tournament may not make money, but the city sees an increase in sales tax revenue from the hotel rooms, restaurants, stores, etc., which more than makes up for the cost of the tournament.

Unless it has changed, when I was the UIC for an Eastern National (2009), the UIC fee was ZERO. However, there was a decent per Diem.

I did not inquire as to what my UC was paid.

Why is it that Host Rotation umpires don't get any travel expenses paid? I just made a 24 hour round trip to Hastings, NE and all I got was my room paid for. Any umpire fees I received were eaten up by fuel costs. Luckily, we were fed.

No such animal. Types are Host, At Large, Rotation and Host Exchange. ASA only has provisions for At Large and Rotation umpires. Some tournaments will provide housing, even that is not required for "Host" umpires (Steve will confirm that).

This is why some UICs (when they have a say) go out of their way to try and send pairs of umpires as Host Exchange to cut transportation costs.

Worked the Men's 16 inch A Slow Pitch in South Bend Indiana.

a couple of thoughts...

- 16 inch is a blast!

- South Bend treats the team in Blue like kings!

Is that softball, or team handball? :p

I meant to type "host exchange".

The host exchange is just that. The host "exchanges" a slot in their tournament for the promise the assn sending the umpire will accept an umpire from the host assn in return.

These meant much more before the territorial nationals, but if some areas want umpires to attend nationals, and the umpire wants to go, that's the price.

In my area, I have nothing to exchange, so I am at the mercy of the host assn. which in every case to date has always been very accommodating.

If these did not exist, many umpires would have a minimum opportunity to work a national. However, if the umpire wants to advance to the level where s/he can get assigned to the USA/ASA or achieve Elite status, this is what they have to do.