"Professional" is a word that is thrown about a lot in society today, especially in sports. From a classification for high school officials, to high school and college kids wanting to "jump to the pros," before they are truly ready, or a young player making a "pro-like" move on the diamond or court. Being a "professional" basically means showing a businesslike manner in a workplace (thank you Mr. Webster).
If you think about it, as amatuer umpires, we always want to strive to be the most "professional" umpires we can be. We will never be truly professional umpires in baseball terms unless we go to umpire school and make it through the ranks in Professional ball. Even though we don't make hundreds of thousands of dollars, we drive to all our games, and our locker room is the trunk of our cars in the parking lot, we strive to be and are expected to strive to be a "professional" umpire.
Just because we don't get paid the big bucks to work the local high school or rec. league games, doesn't mean we can't (or shouldn't) act professional. Here are some things, I have found out (either by experience, or from others) that will help you gain a "professional" image:
1. Appearance: Appearance is first because it is hands down the most important thing to being a "professional" umpire. Fans, coaches, and players (and other umpires) can tell a lot about an umpire by the way he looks. Make sure your uniform is following state or association standards. It needs to be clean and pressed. Polish your shoes. I do it at least once a week (some suggest before every game) and also before big/important games. Your uniform is the most basic way to show professionalism on the diamond. A sloppy uniform indicates that you may not care enough about the game to take the time to press it (or at least clean it). A sloppy uniform also might indicate a lack of knowledge of the rules. A sloppy uniform will damage your credibility.
2. Hustle: Good "professional" amatuer umpires hustle to get into good positions to make the correct calls. You movements on the diamond should be crisp, clean, and direct. Hustling on a play increases your chances of having the best position to make a critical decision. Be careful, however, you can overhustle and hustle yourself out of position.
3. Calm, Cool, and Collected: Great "professional" amatuer umpires stay calm and under control even in the craziest of situations. The world could be falling apart around you but you need to be in complete control of your emotions, mannerisms, and tone. In a nut shell, you will many times be the only voice of reason and control in a ball game. A "professional" umpire rarely has to raise their voice or eject a player/coach/fan from a game. You have to keep collected and focused to do your job right. Don't get wrapped up in all of the emotion of the game. As soon as you do, you have officially lost control of the game, the game now has you under control. You need to stay in control in order to make the correct call at a crucial part of the game.
Hopefully these three things can help you move on your way to being not only a better, more respected umpire, but help you get noticed and maybe selected for your state/league tournament.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Points of Emphasis for 2008
I got my 2008 rule book a couple of weeks ago and over the weekend I decided to begin checking it out and refreshing my memory since I have been officiating basketball all winter. I looked at the points of emphasis this year and I found them to be quite interesting. Here are the ones I consider big time important or significant with a short description (straight from the rule book with some commentary from me)
1. Batters Hit By a Pitch: They want us, as umpires, to watch more carefully players that are not "making a reasonable attempt" to get out of the way and avoid getting hit. The batter has to make every attempt to get out of the way of the ball. This will be an interesting and tough point of emphasis because each umpire will have a completely different interpretation. It's a good point of emphasis, just one that will require a little explaining to the coaches.
2. Obstruction: They are really talking about obstruction when it comes to first basemen and catchers denying access to a base without the ball. Also don't forget that obstruction is physical AND verbal (see A-Rod @ Twins last season).
3. Coaches Professionalism: Boy oh boy is this a good point to emphasize (again) this year. The emphasis specifically mentions the pregame conference and making sure the HEAD coach attends and, along with the umpires, sets a good, positive tone for the rest of the game and maintain control of the dugout. As we all know, there will be some coaches who will be less positive (especially toward us) as we would like and dugouts may get out of control from time to time. It will be important, as umpires, to snuff out issues and decent as quickly (and professionally) as possible, whether that be by restricting coaches (or players) to the dugout or removing a specific problem (coach or player) from the dugout.
4. Pitching Requirements: This is an interesting point and will need to be enforced for our own good. It mainly emphasizes balks and that, from the windup, the pitcher's non pivot foot cannot be in front of his pivot foot. This emphasis also points out that in the stretch, the pitcher's ENTIRE pivot foot must be in contact with the rubber. Not some of it, not a toe, all of it.
Those are the points I thought I would bring up for today. If you are reading the books and notice something else. Let me know!
1. Batters Hit By a Pitch: They want us, as umpires, to watch more carefully players that are not "making a reasonable attempt" to get out of the way and avoid getting hit. The batter has to make every attempt to get out of the way of the ball. This will be an interesting and tough point of emphasis because each umpire will have a completely different interpretation. It's a good point of emphasis, just one that will require a little explaining to the coaches.
2. Obstruction: They are really talking about obstruction when it comes to first basemen and catchers denying access to a base without the ball. Also don't forget that obstruction is physical AND verbal (see A-Rod @ Twins last season).
3. Coaches Professionalism: Boy oh boy is this a good point to emphasize (again) this year. The emphasis specifically mentions the pregame conference and making sure the HEAD coach attends and, along with the umpires, sets a good, positive tone for the rest of the game and maintain control of the dugout. As we all know, there will be some coaches who will be less positive (especially toward us) as we would like and dugouts may get out of control from time to time. It will be important, as umpires, to snuff out issues and decent as quickly (and professionally) as possible, whether that be by restricting coaches (or players) to the dugout or removing a specific problem (coach or player) from the dugout.
4. Pitching Requirements: This is an interesting point and will need to be enforced for our own good. It mainly emphasizes balks and that, from the windup, the pitcher's non pivot foot cannot be in front of his pivot foot. This emphasis also points out that in the stretch, the pitcher's ENTIRE pivot foot must be in contact with the rubber. Not some of it, not a toe, all of it.
Those are the points I thought I would bring up for today. If you are reading the books and notice something else. Let me know!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
