International Umpires Camp Day 3

[Umpire in Chief]

Today was a great day. ( read the whole thing to see why)

It started with some class room time with Steve Manders (SEC, ACC and NCAA D-I CWS umpire) going over some NCAA vs OBR rules differences. Steve has an incredible presence he is a bigger guy with a big voice and commands respect. He helped me on the errs of my way on some Fungo drills yesterday. He speaks with a lot of passion and he really lights up and has an energy about him when speaking about umpiring which is something you just cant fake.

As someone who hasn't earned his way into the college ranks yet, I found this just awesome. When Steve was speaking about his experiences and how to apply the rules I got a ton out of it. I could have sat in there all day and listened to him speak about umpiring.

We then headed to the fields (in the rain) to do our field drills. I had fungo drills first with Paul Nauert and Steve Manders. I did much better today. Unfortunately, due to time constraints I did not get an opportunity to work U3, but there were enough drills and I got to watch the other guys enough I picked up on quite a bit. Of course I would have loved to get to work all 3 stations, but I'm not disappointed.

After lunch I went to the cages. My first cage session was with Jerry Crawford, and yes I will admit I was a bit star struck having the opportunity to be critiqued by Jerry. He helped me improve my plate stance. He feels with the way I was already setting up I should go to the more squared stance versus the slot. I gave it a try and it felt different but good, it will definitely take some getting use to. But for my next few pitches he made a number of positive comments. On my final pitch I was suppose to do my mechanic for a called strike three. My timing was really fast and Jerry says jokingly, "Awe ... I start saying that you're looking great back there and then you make me look bad."

I next went into the cage with Brian Reilly. I incorporated what Jerry Crawford told me. Brian didn't have too much to say to me he did suggest I spread my feet just a bit more so I look more comfortable and when I did he was right I was more comfortable. I also did much better today on tracking the ball.

Then in the evening we came back to the classroom and watched the Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel they did on Jerry & Joe Crawford which I hadn't seen before and it was great. Next we watched a bloopers video and some situations. We didn't discuss the situations, which I would have liked.

The night ended with a raffle for charity. It was a pit Different from other raffles because first you could only buy up to 6 tickets. But you weren't going for a specific item. I bought 6 tickets. Tony Thompson would announce a prize then draw a ticket. I won a pretty nice Reebok Golf Shirt really early so I thought I was done. I was sort of hoping for the game ball signed by Joe West from his 4000th game him being a from North East North Carolina and attended ECU like me ( He graduated from Elon). A few minutes I won a cap signed by Jerry Crawford and that made my day up to that point. I cant wait to get that into a proper display case.

Well guess what I wasn't done yet. Tony Thompson announces the Grand Prize. A scholarship to the Southern Umpires Camp in February. He draws the name and says, "This is pretty ironic..." He announces my name as the winner ant tells the story of me winning the spot in the International Camp through the Umps Care charity auction. I was stoked at the prospect of getting to come back.

Today was one of the greatest days in my baseball career and I didn't even get to work a real game.

I cant wait to see what happens tomorrow.

[widac]

Great story, thanks.

You said that you were told "I should go to the more squared stance versus the slot"

When you says this do you mean going from Heel-Toe to square? Wouldn't you be in the slot no matter what?

[midmoump]

Congrats, Warren! :shrug:

[Umpire in Chief]

He means having my slot foot in my unexperted opinion way up in the slot. More than just a heel toe relationship. He has suggested that I work squared, or toe/toe relationship. I have a follow up in my day 4 update.