My days of umpiring were awesome. What is umpiring? The actual definition is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling the disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump.
I am talking about baseball. Here is my history on it. I was 14 years old and I was hanging around the wrong people. I got in trouble with the law and my dad said I needed a hobby for the weekends. He put me in a little league and start off with umpiring. I learned as much as I could from every umpire I met.
As I got older there was an opportunity to go to an actual school for umpiring. It is a five week course where you learn all the rules, the proper mechanics, professionalism, and the top students go to PBUC (Professional Baseball Umpiring Corp).
Learning the rules were the most interesting. You were taught the rules in a classroom and how the are interpreted. In baseball the rules say one thing but is implemented or enforced completely different. Baseball is a game were you work in the grey most of the time. There is an actual rule were if a play happens and it is not in the rule book were the umpire can make a rule on the spot and enforce it. Now we are talking professional baseball not amateur baseball.
Amateur umpiring is completely different from professional. The main factor of course is Professional baseball you have actual coaches (Sometimes) that know the game and know how the rhythm of the game works. In amateur baseball you have parents who think there kid is a professional. In amateur baseball they want the game to be in black in white when it comes to the rules. It is tough because parents don't know the game and when you add competition tensions are high.
Proper mechanics is how to call balls and strikes, the timing between calls, how to properly control a situation and situation awareness. This is were you take your bad habits and learn the fundamentals. Professionalism is earned and displayed. How to handle situations is key in any game you umpire. Learning how to speak to players and coaches. Being loud works to your advantage if you know how to use it. I am not talking about being loud in an argument or confrontation. Tonality please a big a role in making the game run smoothly. Example: ball is hit to the shortstop and makes a play were the runner is 2 or more steps from touching the base. As an umpire you just say out in a soft tone. How ever lets say the shortstop made a diving catch and the play is bang bang. As an umpire you view, assess, think, then call the play (timing). OOOUUUTTT!!!! with an aggressive hand gesture saying out. This is were amateur and professional umpires distinct themselves. This is were in my eyes I make the "BIG BUCKS". This is were I set the tone, were I run the show and let everyone know I know what I'm doing.
