Riverside Umpire Clinic

[Lefty]

Hi Everyone,

I went to a Umpire Clinic today at Ramona High School in Riverside Calif. This was a very good clinic . It was limited to about

40 Umpires so you would get more attention. I met some new Umpires today and saw some others I have known for a while.

One of the instructors was Angel Campos. Angel is a AAA and Big League Umpire. I have known Angel for a while. He is a

real nice guy and very knowledgeable.

Lefty

[hckyosgood30]

Glad you had fun lefty. I can say that Fritzoni and Chris opened a few guys eyes with there honesty of their ability vs, their perceived ability. Hope to see you at the next clinic in Feb. We had a blast with everyone who was able to make it out.

[sdix00]

I also attended this clinic and I have to say it was an outstanding value. At $25 it was obscenely under-priced and should have been closer to $50.

I was lucky and was able to bring my two boys along.

Angel Campos was really nice. Extremely mellow and supportive of all the guys regardless of their abilities or effort. Angel and Mike (hckyosgood30) ran the plate umpire station and guys I talked to said they thoroughly enjoyed this station. Action was fast and nobody stood around for more than a couple minutes at any time.

Ron Smith, our Unit's Instructional Chair ran a "Handling Coaches" station. This guy is the Emily Post of Umpiring. I have listened to him speak on the subject a couple of times and I am fascinated by the things I do not know. I forgot to take notes, but I really should have. Everything he said triggered my "well duh" switch, but If I had to repeat what he said, I might be able to recall half of it. I just hope it all comes back at the right time.

My favorite however was the Field Situation Station run by Steve Fritzoni and Chris Hickman. Steve was really tough on me. He didn't like the way my eyes transferred from the throw to 1B. He stopped everything and made me do it again, . . . and again. I actually appreciate his style. When you F*** it up, he tells you. This is why I go to clinics. I want to be told when I get it wrong. It was a little jarring at first, but then Steve yelled at some of the more experienced guys as well and it made me feel a bit better.

I told Mike that Steve was a little rough and he assured me that that was nothing and to just wait til I attended one of his own camps. Yikes. Probably an awesome experience and I am going to try and figure out a way to get to one of his camps, even though my camp schedule is pretty full this year (and budget is pretty empty, lol).

After all this, we broke for a quick snack (like 8 minutes or so) and came back to work a live game. This time lots of feedback from Angel, Chris and Steve.

I spent a lot of time on HS fields working by myself as this was my first year working that level. I really do look forward to getting more clinics in like this one so I can get some real feedback and get my stuff in gear.

Angel capped off the great day and stuck around afterward gave out some very cool stuff and chat with the guys.

Ironic how I can learn so much in a day, but REALLY learn how much I still don't know.

[rth54]

Fritzoni is also on the staff of this upcoming camp in Huntington beach, ca in January....

http://mibumpirecamp.com/index.php