Advice

[JoeC]

I was recently named UIC for the local  LL.  As this is my first time any helpful advice?

[Kevin_K]

Start recruiting now.

Prepare training materials and schedule clinics now.

Make sure the equipment for the youth umpires is quality gear.

Avoid sitting with parents at games unless you want to explain every out of the ordinary call.

Confer with the BOD, especially the league president, that you need their unconditional support when it comes to defending your umpires against the stupidity of the "adults" in the league.

Contact your district UIC to introduce yourself.

I am sure there are more, but that should keep you busy for a while.

[maineump]

I was recently named UIC for the local  LL.  As this is my first time any helpful advice?

Where exactly in Maine are you? Town/District? I might have some names, ideas for you.

[stevis]

Seconding everything Kevin_K said. 

Attend the board meetings.   Helps get the board on your side.

What's your league's online presence like?  I use a shared google drive to share my "lecture notes" from training, mechanics diagrams, and other useful documents (like how to use our league's self-assign system.)

If you aren't already intimately familiar with rules and mechanics, get there--you need to know much more than you teach if you can.  (No, I don't assume I'm far enough along with that myself.)   I grabbed a copy of Evans's manual last offseason (as were were adding 70' ball), but I think the principles in there are great even for 60' closed base ball.  

Remember that LL is OBR based, and not FED, if you're more used to the latter.

Feel free to PM me anytime--I'm entering my 3rd year, and was thrust into it with even less of an offseason than you were.  One of my goals this year is to train better, so I'd be happy to put heads together.

[maineump]

Where exactly in Maine are you? Town/District? I might have some names, ideas for you.

If you are in Northern Maine, then I am guessing you are part of D-3? If so, we do training for local leagues through the district. There are also training sessions in other leagues that your members could attend.

Advice that I would give, is to have a good relationship with your league, the district UIC and your 'senior' umpires. Find out who has worked in your league as umpires before. Find out who has worked at all-star level games - whether it is at the district level or higher and have them help you in the beginning. Attending the regional umpire clinic in the early spring is a good base for rules, update and some basic mechanics. Feel free to message me if I can help you out.

[JoeC]

maineump- it's the Caribou LL

[ricka56]

 it's the Caribou

Advice - buy a time share in Fort Lauderdale. 

[conbo61]

Seconding everything Kevin_K said. 

Attend the board meetings.   Helps get the board on your side.

What's your league's online presence like?  I use a shared google drive to share my "lecture notes" from training, mechanics diagrams, and other useful documents (like how to use our league's self-assign system.)

If you aren't already intimately familiar with rules and mechanics, get there--you need to know much more than you teach if you can.  (No, I don't assume I'm far enough along with that myself.)   I grabbed a copy of Evans's manual last offseason (as were were adding 70' ball), but I think the principles in there are great even for 60' closed base ball.  

Remember that LL is OBR based, and not FED, if you're more used to the latter.

Feel free to PM me anytime--I'm entering my 3rd year, and was thrust into it with even less of an offseason than you were.  One of my goals this year is to train better, so I'd be happy to put heads together.

I recall seeing a LL 60' mechanics manual many years ago.  I would recommend contacting LL directly and seeing what training materials they have available.

[Mudisfun]

As a LL UIC I recommend getting to the Managers ASAP once they are determined. You need them hitting their parents at meeting one for volunteers; not 4th or 5th on their list after team parent, candy coordinator etc... Remind them that the game requires 18 players, 2 coaches at a minimum and at least 1 umpire. Take any of those away and you have a scrimmage.

Several people mentioned getting to the BOD for backing... this depends I guess on your league. In ours the UIC is a member of the Executive Board so not only am I on the board but at least in my mind my issues are heard. If your not on the general board at a minimum then you need to address that ASAP or your going to have issues getting your problems resolved at a later date. You should also be on any ejection committee or protest committee as well since most boards seem to not be well versed on those rules.

Reach out to your district UIC. In California D62 where I work we prove the following course instruction: 12 hours of rules instruction for all umpires/coaches (anyone that want to come) and a summit meeting of 'how to work with an umpire' that is directed towards managers and coaches so they can stay in the game. Working with the local leagues we run 3-4 'fast start' mechanics courses which are typically 4 hours long but at least address basic positioning on the bases and at the dish which rotates through our footprint to try and get as many people to them while being convenient to their locations. In addition we host an 8 hour mechanics course and then an advanced mechanics course for those really looking to become certified and be selected to work TOC and All Stars. Nearing TOC and All Stars we run a 3-4 man clinic since having this early would not serve us well as the majority of season LL games are 2 man or solo. These courses are GOLD to you since it helps relieve you of much of the burden of physically handling the training. Get your BOD to make attendance at the rules meeting mandatory for all Managers and Coaches which will 100% make your life easier since they will hopefully at a minimum know which 'rules' are bunk and which are real.

PM me your email and I will send you some documents I have made over the years I use as cheat sheets for my volunteer umpires especially relating to the basics such a which level has in field fly, dropped 3rd strike, batting 9 versus CBO etc... 

Last and the most important thing I can tell you: Have FUN! This is for the kids. The more I remind 'those parents' of this fact the easier my job becomes.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Mudisfun

[rzanew]

As a LL UIC I recommend getting to the Managers ASAP once they are determined. You need them hitting their parents at meeting one for volunteers; not 4th or 5th on their list after team parent, candy coordinator etc... Remind them that the game requires 18 players, 2 coaches at a minimum and at least 1 umpire. Take any of those away and you have a scrimmage.

Several people mentioned getting to the BOD for backing... this depends I guess on your league. In ours the UIC is a member of the Executive Board so not only am I on the board but at least in my mind my issues are heard. If your not on the general board at a minimum then you need to address that ASAP or your going to have issues getting your problems resolved at a later date. You should also be on any ejection committee or protest committee as well since most boards seem to not be well versed on those rules.

Reach out to your district UIC. In California D62 where I work we prove the following course instruction: 12 hours of rules instruction for all umpires/coaches (anyone that want to come) and a summit meeting of 'how to work with an umpire' that is directed towards managers and coaches so they can stay in the game. Working with the local leagues we run 3-4 'fast start' mechanics courses which are typically 4 hours long but at least address basic positioning on the bases and at the dish which rotates through our footprint to try and get as many people to them while being convenient to their locations. In addition we host an 8 hour mechanics course and then an advanced mechanics course for those really looking to become certified and be selected to work TOC and All Stars. Nearing TOC and All Stars we run a 3-4 man clinic since having this early would not serve us well as the majority of season LL games are 2 man or solo. These courses are GOLD to you since it helps relieve you of much of the burden of physically handling the training. Get your BOD to make attendance at the rules meeting mandatory for all Managers and Coaches which will 100% make your life easier since they will hopefully at a minimum know which 'rules' are bunk and which are real.

PM me your email and I will send you some documents I have made over the years I use as cheat sheets for my volunteer umpires especially relating to the basics such a which level has in field fly, dropped 3rd strike, batting 9 versus CBO etc... 

Last and the most important thing I can tell you: Have FUN! This is for the kids. The more I remind 'those parents' of this fact the easier my job becomes.

How many umpires do you have in your league?  How many new umpires to get started each year?

I'd like to provide some training to our local group of umpires, but i'm not sure I can get attendance to more than a couple hours of instruction (rules, mechanics, etc).

[Mudisfun]

So last season I had roughly 30 individual umpires work games at our league and we are small at only 225 kids from TBall - Majors. Of this 5 were Junior Umpires and 3 were District Staff Umpires so we basically had 22 internal adults come out to cover games. 

Because of the proximity of leagues in the area we don't do all that much training on a league by league basis but handle this as a district grouping. Our district has +/- 45 fairly active staff umpires who with the help of the UIC's and motivated 'certified' umpires provide the on field mechanics training. The rules meetings are conducted by our senior staff umpires using a well thought out and well honed presentation. Our District contains 2 Costa Mesa leagues which are 3 miles apart, one league in Fountain Valley which is 3 miles away and 3 Huntington Beach leagues which are 3-10 miles distant so as you can see grouping all of us together and getting everyone into a locally accessible area is not all that difficult.

When we're conducting the 1/2 day mechanics days we will run one course at a field from say 8-12 and then conduct an afternoon training from 1-5 at another league so that we are covering the most ground possible. 

To answer your question on how many new... last season of the 22 parents roughly 8 were completely new. I am only including kid pitch levels (Minor B+) in this. If I include the farm level which is machine pitch then add another 6 new to the mix.