Southern Umpires Camp Days 1 & 2

[Umpire in Chief]

I'm down here in Atlanta for the Southern Umpires Camp. Our instructors are Tony Thompson, Paul Nauert, Ed Rapuano, AA umpire Tripp Gibson, and CWS umpire Steve Manders.

Thursday we checked in and then after some preliminaries and then some rules and basic 2 man mechanics. Paul Nauert continued to enthrall me with his presentation style. and I was pleasantly surprised how strong a presenter Tripp Gibson is.

This is advertised as the camp for the beginning or experienced umpire and at face level the info it seems like it would be old hat for an experienced umpire, but as you listen it is good to get some of these same things you've heard time and again explained a new way and you can start picking out some nuances that these guys offer.

Today it was a great day weather wise. I started out doing field drills with Tripp Gibson & Steve Manders. It was fun and they are teaching the pivot which I haven't done in a while, but I was able to get back with it quick enough.

After lunch I went to do cage work with Nauert With Paul I did okay, which was a huge improvement over my cage session with Paul in October when I gave him plenty to comment on. He didn't have much to say to me so I'll take that as an okay. The main thing he asked me to do was adjust my stance in terms of my arm positioning.

I then went to Ed Rapuano's cage. Now I hope I don't sound like a bragging asshole, but he made a ton of superlative comments on my plate work and used me as an example on tracking the ball when the catcher drops one, which I must say happened to me in Paul's cage and I didn't do well so I was better prepared for in Ed's cage. It really gave me a emotional boost.

We came back to the hotel and had a general Q&A session which was great and all the guys had some incredible stories. The night ended with a auction with the proceeds going to UmpsCare. There was a heated auction between 2 guys for a baseball signed by some legendary Yankees the winning bid was $475.

I'm looking forward to fungo drills tomorrow and it's almost 1:00am so hitting the rack to be ready for the morning.

[dumbdumb]

Mr. Rapuano has worked a DS, LCS, or WS every year since 1997 with the exception of 2007 which also includes All Star games in 1995 and 2008. Mr. Rapuano started his career at age 27, in 1985, in the NYP, compared to umps that start at 20-23. However, due to his outstanding ability, he was a "call up" by 1990 and promoted to full-time in 1991. He has been on Joe West's crew since 2006. There should be plenty of stories to tell that both Ed and Joe have been involved in. You may not want to hum that you can't run with the big dogs if you act like a puppy song that he has probably heard a million times. Since you are trying to move up the ladder, it would seem Mr. Thompson also has an International clinic you could try in the fall, if you have not done so already. It might be interesting from reading posts on your forum to get a take on how he expects umpires to handle the college coaches and situations for the schools he contracts. What steps does he expect the umpire to take to avoid an ejection, and at what point does he want them to be ejected, no questions asked, both "borderline ejections" and obvious ones "fu", so that he would back the umpire to the hilt versus ejections that he feels are not warranted, and cannot back up the umpire, and therefor make him look upon an umpire unfavorably for moving up the ladder and future assignments. It seems this area is just as important, if not more important for every umpire. The umpires he assigns can probably call the plays (ball, strike, safe, out) exceptionally well to start with or he would not assign them, so what is it that he looks for in handling game situations and coaches that really will make an umpire stand out and continue to move up the ladder versus handling situations and coaches the wrong way, which could stagnate an umpire or put his career in a southward trajectory? Will he talk about this topic or is that a taboo subject that should not be asked? It would seem like there are lots of situations that he could offer guidance and insight on how he expects things to be handled versus not handled at the D1 level.

Enjoy your camp.

Edited February 20, 2010 by dumbdumb

[rth54]

I have never heard anything but the highest praise for this camp....I hope to get there one of these days... The word is that Nauert is an outstanding teacher.

[Umpire in Chief]

Mr. Thompson also has an International clinic you could try in the fall, if you have not done so already.

I was at the International camp in October and had a blast.

Day 1 Post

Day 2 Post

Day 3 Post

Day 4 Post

Summary

I have never heard anything but the highest praise for this camp....I hope to get there one of these days... The word is that Nauert is an outstanding teacher.

He is incredible, but they all are.