Umpire Mentoring Program is up and running

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

Thanks to a lot of hard work, Kindersley Minor Ball has its umpire mentoring program up and running. Chad Miller, president of Kindersley Minor Ball, played a big part in getting the program off the ground after at least five years of concentrated effort.

“We always had a history of a low number of umpires,” Chad noted. “Kids were signing up to referee, but not to umpire.” After taking a look at the situation, he realized why. “When you’re refereeing, you’re just in the rink, and you’re not involved with every play or strike. It’s easier, and it’s more comfortable. You can’t hear the fans.”

However, the fans are up close on the ball field, which can be intimidating for an umpire, especially if the umpire is a young person. Consequently, Kindersley Minor Ball decided to make a few adjustments.

First of all, they raised the pay for umpires, paying them even more than the provincial standard, which they hope will encourage kids who play ball to sign up as umpires. Secondly, they encouraged players and fans to accept the umpire’s call and not argue. “It had become the standard for people to argue with the umpire,” Chad said. “Most of the calls are judgement calls. Umpires are going to make mistakes, especially when they’re kids. If an umpire makes a call, accept that it’s just part of the game.”

Kids who play ball have a coach and practice, but umpires don’t have practices, and they don’t have coaches. The best way to build their confidence is to have an umpire mentorship program. Over the last few years, Rick Miller and Dave Burke have taken the top end of the mentoring program. In a short time, two additional mentors joined the program.

Every time a manager books a certified umpire, they notify the mentors, and if they’re free, they show up and work with the umpires. “Ball has a lot of rules and can be confusing, so you don’t want to overwhelm the umpires with too much information,” Chad said. “Our zone 7 umpire is also quite involved in our program and occasionally does field sessions.”

Not only does the mentorship program help to build confidence in the umpires, but Chad is hoping parents will realize being an umpire isn’t as intimidating as they may have thought. “We only have parents umpiring when we don’t have enough umpires, but we would rather have the kids sign up to umpire,” Chad said.

He listed several benefits to umpiring. It creates confidence and teaches kids life skills. Umpires also make better ballplayers when they understand that aspect of the game. Chad and the mentors are hoping the program will generate an influx of umpires into the system.

Having a certified umpire out there makes everything better for the players and fans and the game’s integrity. Dave Burke, one of the senior mentors, said, “I can tell you from my side of the fence if I didn’t have mentors, I would not be able to do what I did. I hope this program keeps going.”

Photo by Kate Winquist