Local LL UIC opportunity

[SeeingEyeDog]

Greetings brothers,

     Long time, no time...I have returned home after my 3 week sojourn. It was nice to unplug for a bit and enjoy life at the lake.

     And upon returning home, I had a voice mail from my local LL president and they need a UIC. I played LL, I umpired LL as a teenager, I have coached and sat on the board of local LL, and I am still doing some juniors and seniors games through my association. So, I am somewhat familiar with the local LL administrative model and how the sausage is made.

     Here's my question for all of you...I've got 2 middle-school aged kids who participate in lots of activities so, keeping up with their stuff as well as my current Feb - Oct umpire responsibilities means, I can't take the UIC position right now. But, I also don't like saying no to people within The Craft. My level of commitment at this time would be, "Hey, if you need help scheduling and conducting trainings and otherwise mentoring your young umpires, please let me know." I don't want to work games and I don't want to assign games or manage payroll, I just want to support whomever takes the UIC position with training and mentoring. Is this going to be received well? Does this kind of capacity exist in the local UIC framework of how they typically operate? Obviously, the worst thing they can say is thanks but, no thanks. I don't know...if I were a UIC and someone with some acumen were offering volunteer assistance, I would take all I can. I don't see lines forming full of people wanting to volunteer with their local LL. I also figure, this will give me an opportunity to become familiar with the local league, its personalities, warts, etc...which might ultimately inform me about taking the UIC role in the future when my kids are out of the house. OK, your turn brothers...what do you have here?

~Dawg

[Lou B]

At my local LL the UIC is responsible for umpire recruitment/training and umpire scheduling (which is done basically on-line).

The umpires are all volunteer so no tracking/making payments. 

The current UIC also does NOT umpire (unless he wants to). 

In his case, I know he would welcome your help.

[Catch18]

Ask them for a deadline of when they need your answer. Tell them your situation and what you can commit to. If they give you some time, maybe you can get some contacts out and find an assistant UIC. If not, wish them well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Velho]

1 hour ago, Lou B said:

At my local LL the UIC is responsible for umpire recruitment/training and umpire scheduling (which is done basically on-line).

The umpires are all volunteer so no tracking/making payments. 

The current UIC also does NOT umpire (unless he wants to). 

In his case, I know he would welcome your help.

@SeeingEyeDog You're too nice a guy. 😉 Don't feel bad about setting your boundaries and expectations. They want the help, great. They don't, that's fine as well. This is (pseudo) business.

One piece homework you could do is understand the broad expectation by the board and league. My local league, the UIC is the last resort fill-in. He works a lot of games (especially softball). If you don't want that and games will go solo or uncovered, you want that to be well known and understood up front.

[BDad]

I agree with above comments about setting boundaries that work for you while you learn about the league's expectations. I stayed with my league after my son aged out because I like the people and the league philosophy of serving kids and their families. As UIC, I do umpire (because I love it) and I also train and assign. My son will be a HS senior this fall, so I would like to do less admin work (assigning, covering holes) so I can umpire and train (the things I really like) while enjoying his "last year at home". I'm working with my league to figure out whether that means I stay on the Board or rotate off. Do what works for you and focus on the things that you will feel personally rewarded for. LL needs volunteers, some leagues really do focus on creating opportunities for kids who wouldn't otherwise have them, and the right fit (for you and the league) will be greatly appreciated by the league and will be fulfilling for you to support kids' dreams. Sorry if too sappy, but my teacher personality gets a lot of enjoyment out of helping kids smile and build confidence in their abilities.

[Coach Carl]

In my local league the UIC is a parent volunteer.  I can tell you that he would be ecstatic to have a trained umpire working on training and mentoring.  Perhaps your league could follow our model and have a parent be the UIC, handling all the scheduling, managing payments, etc. while you work on the training side.  You can then schedule classes at your convenience and come to watch umpires work when it suits you.  If you are clear on your level of commitment, you can probably make it work.   

[Lou B]

Always seemed strange to me that the UIC is not a required Officer of the Board of Directors!

The 7 required Officers are: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Player Agent, Safety Officer, and Coaching Coordinator.

To me, the UIC is a heck of a lot more important than the Coaching Coordinator.

Plus, the UIC is a required member of the Protest Committee!

[834k3r]

Perhaps a bit late to the conversation, but I would think the UIC would take all the help he could get. Our LL UIC umpires a lot of games outside LL (as we all do) and the majority of our LL season conflicts with the high school season (late start to the FED season here in the snow belt) so he's forced to go with fairly inexperienced umpires or umpires with poor mechanics. Lots of mentorship needed, and I'm sure your UIC sees the same need.

[Aging_Arbiter]

I was UIC in my local LL for 20 years.  When I stepped down (after finding a suitable replacement), the NEW UIC understood that I would be there as a resource.  4 years later, and I am still helping him/involved.  He handles everything.  If he has questions, or if he and the family pick up and go on vacation, he (and the entire league) knows that I will be covering during his absence.  In all actuality, it's almost a co-UIC position but I don't have to do anything on a regular basis.  I don't MIND being a back up to cover for him in situations that arise.

 

Is that a possibility on your end?  Mentorship doesn't always mean constant connection.  Even on the "down hill slide of life", I've found that out.

[Mudisfun]

I was our UIC for 10 years. Requirement #1 was that the position was a voting member of our Executive Board, if not, then no thanks. I know of too many leagues where the UIC is a general board position which places them in a spot where they have little to no say on how the league is ran. When the BOD tries to implement changes which are not in alignment with the rules, or which is negative to umpires, there needs to be a voice.

I ran my position more as an administrator. Our district as a whole handles most umpire training, so I worked to get as many volunteers there as we could, especially since I am one of the instructors. I set the game/umpire schedules and from there maintained communications letting the parties know when district or other umpires picked up a game and the local volunteers were off the hook, unless they wanted to work the game. I never saw my job as the 'no one showed up so I have to drop everything to umpire some random game'. If that happened? Deal with it... oh, and the team that failed to officiate lost their coaches the next game. Amazing how fast that fixes the problem. The 2 coaches are now sitting on the bench with the parent who no showed while the manager is restricted to the dugout for the entire game since you have to have an adult there all game. The kids loved it however, as they got to be base coaches all game.

 

[Lou B]

Mudisfun: You assign teams (parents?) to umpire games?  How exactly does that work?

We have a few leagues in our District that assign teams to umpire their minor league games (normally done by the manager/coaches) while their regular umpires do majors and above.

[Velho]

7 minutes ago, Lou B said:

Mudisfun: You assign teams (parents?) to umpire games?  How exactly does that work?

 

My local LL in San Jose does that. It's worked very well.

Each team is assigned to cover 2 umpire slots for a game, same as having to setup or tear down the field or work in the snack shack. Managers are responsible for getting those slots filled. When I want a game I contact the coach and offer to step in for one of the parents.

It takes work though. We run an all day umpire clinic that gets 50+ attendees (morning is basics and afternoon is extended - most don't stick around for afternoon). We have newbies call the preseason scrimmages and experienced folks coach them. That extends throughout the season for those that are interested.

The results speak for themselves. Our league has a disproportionate percentage of "real umpires" (those that do District and Regional postseason games including All Stars) and most started as a player parent (I am one of those). In a very competitive area given the population density, we've sent a number of umpires to Regionals, Williamsport, and WS at the other levels.

[Mudisfun]

1 hour ago, Lou B said:

Mudisfun: You assign teams (parents?) to umpire games?  How exactly does that work?

We have a few leagues in our District that assign teams to umpire their minor league games (normally done by the manager/coaches) while their regular umpires do majors and above.

So pretty much like @Velho describes above... 

When the game schedules are finally done, I would take all of them and list out every game/date each team plays. I would then assign that team, plate and base to cover another game on a different day. If your team plays on Tuesday, then you may be assigned to cover a Thursday game. If you play at 0900 on Saturday, then your covering the noon or 1500 game, etc... The easy win for everyone was A) the team my kid(s) played on since pretty much that coach got off easy getting his/her assigned games covered, and B) teams assigned to cover Majors since most of those get picked up by our District staff and or 'real' umpires. The people who get screwed are those covering the Minors since other than the Juniors, most district and other 'real umpires' do not want to work Minor divisions when they can avoid it.

What you need to make this work:

1) A clear understanding by the BOD of how the program functions and the willingness to help enforce penalties if someone does not hold up their end of the bargain.
2) At the manager selection process, the requirement of supplying officials is went through with each prospect. Those that are unwilling to buy in do not get a team.
3) The managers with a clear understanding of the program are then in a position to 'sell' it to their team members. Since we established the culture, this has been much easier than when we first started the program.
4) Everyone must understand that ALL games must be covered. If each team plays 20-25 games, then they can expect to be assigned 20-25 games to officiate. I never understand leagues which try and sell the 'you only have to cover 2-5 games' mantra. Who is expected to cover the other 15-20? 

My last year as UIC, for Minor B (8/9 yo) - Majors we had 140 individual umpires work our games. 40 were district staff, 40 juniors and the other 60 were various parents in the league stepping up. They may have only covered 1 game or many, but those numbers there are a success story. Every team on average was 'assigned' 18-20 games to cover and we only had one team fail to show which triggered the 'no assistant coaches today' penalty. I sat at that game the entire time to make sure they took their punishment as assigned, and they did.

[SeeingEyeDog]

3 hours ago, Velho said:

My local LL in San Jose does that. It's worked very well.

Each team is assigned to cover 2 umpire slots for a game, same as having to setup or tear down the field or work in the snack shack. Managers are responsible for getting those slots filled. When I want a game I contact the coach and offer to step in for one of the parents.

It takes work though. We run an all day umpire clinic that gets 50+ attendees (morning is basics and afternoon is extended - most don't stick around for afternoon). We have newbies call the preseason scrimmages and experienced folks coach them. That extends throughout the season for those that are interested.

The results speak for themselves. Our league has a disproportionate percentage of "real umpires" (those that do District and Regional postseason games including All Stars) and most started as a player parent (I am one of those). In a very competitive area given the population density, we've sent a number of umpires to Regionals, Williamsport, and WS at the other levels.

I will take this one step further...our local LL district collects a league fee for each player (with most leagues able to pay for kids whose parents can't afford the fee. They don't need to qualify or anything, they just have to ask and the league pays for their child to play.) And then in addition to collecting the league fee for each player, each family also submits a payment of about $50. That may be higher or lower in various parts of the district. Families can then earn back that additional fee by working the snack bar, doing pre-season field work and various other jobs (to include umpiring) the leagues need performed to put on these baseball games. Families may also elect to not earn back that fee and the league uses those funds to hire teenagers and others willing to work those jobs...except for adult umpires, of course.

~Dawg

[Velho]

That works too @SeeingEyeDog

My son's soccer league did same. I see the logic (and like the hiring teenagers aspect your district does) but personally don't like the pay your way out of contributing. I see how a league pragmatically gets there though.

[Lou B]

Several of the leagues around here get the JV and Varsity BB and SB players to umpire to get credit for community service towards college.  

[The Man in Blue]

8 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

I will take this one step further...our local LL district collects a league fee for each player (with most leagues able to pay for kids whose parents can't afford the fee. They don't need to qualify or anything, they just have to ask and the league pays for their child to play.) And then in addition to collecting the league fee for each player, each family also submits a payment of about $50. That may be higher or lower in various parts of the district. Families can then earn back that additional fee by working the snack bar, doing pre-season field work and various other jobs (to include umpiring) the leagues need performed to put on these baseball games. Families may also elect to not earn back that fee and the league uses those funds to hire teenagers and others willing to work those jobs...except for adult umpires, of course.

~Dawg

 

Back when I ran our local rec program, we did that for concession stand help.  This was critical as our "snack shack" provided over 1/3rd of our revenue and allowed us to hold low fees and no fees for many kids.

Back in the day, people volunteered and teams covered their nights.  That changed.  The first year we introduced it, we did a $15 "deposit" for all players.  If a parent wanted it back, they worked a shift in the stand.  If they didn't, we used it to pay a high school student.  Very few parents worked their shift.

At the year-end board meeting I reported how many parents had worked in the stand: SIX.  One of my adversarial board members declared the effort a failure.  I said, "On the contrary.  It worked great.  Parents didn't want to work, so we paid the kids.  That also meant we had a regular staff in there every night."  She wasn't getting it.  "I didn't have to train and re-train people twice a night.  The kids basically took over and ran the place and they did it well."

The next year we raised it to $20 and gave the kids a raise and two of them even went and got their food handler's license.

Thank heavens we didn't have to do that with umpires.  That was a completely different set of issues.

[834k3r]

2 hours ago, Lou B said:

Several of the leagues around here get the JV and Varsity BB and SB players to umpire to get credit for community service towards college.  

We have one umpire for LL that has done it for community service for...legal reasons. He's not great, but he tries.

[The Man in Blue]

The movies are coming true, thank you Gordon Bombay.  We are so desperate for umpires it has now become a legal punishment.

[Velho]

1 hour ago, The Man in Blue said:

The movies are coming true, thank you Gordon Bombay

So you found the right prescription?

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

3 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

The movies are coming true, thank you Gordon Bombay.  We are so desperate for umpires it has now become a legal punishment.

Well...I mean...Bombay signed a plea deal to coach, not referee but, clearly for baseball "community service" is umpiring.

~Dawg 

[Lou B]

14 hours ago, 834k3r said:

We have one umpire for LL that has done it for community service for...legal reasons. He's not great, but he tries.

A number of years ago one of the local judges was a big LL guy.  Sentenced quite a few minor offenders to Community Service at the local LL !!!

[The Man in Blue]

Open the bomb-bay doors, @Velho found the wrong Bombay.  😉

[Mudisfun]

On 8/4/2023 at 7:13 PM, Lou B said:

Several of the leagues around here get the JV and Varsity BB and SB players to umpire to get credit for community service towards college.  

Our school district use to require 40 hours a year from HS students as volunteer time, but they did away with that a while ago. The main issue we have with getting HS players to umpire often is that their schedule and the youth schedules conflict. They either play or practice the same day/time as the LL players.