Stress before 1st scrimmage

[SeeingEyeDog]

Let's give it up for Brother @Rover125! In less than 24 hours he went from babe in the woods to our brother baptized in the glorious fire of The Game and Our Craft. Congratulations!

~Dawg

[Rover125]

On 3/20/2024 at 8:32 PM, The Man in Blue said:

If a guy landing in the Hudson River is hailed as a hero, I think you'll be fine missing a few calls.   😉

I apologize in advance, as I have a dark sense of humor . . . but when I read you were nervous about the game I thought "totally normal."  When I read about your profession . . .  I was in tears, laughing so hard my wife had to come see what was wrong with me.  I can't imagine too many more things more stressful than that (maybe the guy in the tower).

Others have asked most of my questions, but I haven't seen these answered yet:

• How did you get into umpiring?
• How did you get this game?
• Who has been working with you (or, as it seems, NOT working with you)?

I came to it a bit later in life also, mainly due to waiting for my kids to outgrow their games.  There is nothing wrong with that, and I believe it actually gives you better perspective.   Hell, my first game, my shoes fell apart.  Literally left the sole of one behind when I was button-hooking in on a hit.  You'll do better than that.  😋

Like the gang has said, it gets better every time.  You just have to be willing to be patient with yourself.  As for stress and your personal situation, hopefully umpiring can become the stress relief from all that.  A couple of hours on the dirt, focused on a baseball game with the best seat in the house . . . leave the world behind for a bit.

Towards the end of my previous career, I had to spend a few weeks visiting customers at their homes so they could yell and scream at me.  Some damned engineer and his supervisor thought it would be a good idea to build a substation (electric) in the middle of their neighborhood.  Oh, and it wasn't even improving their service, it was to fed the pot plant on the edge of town.  Anyway, I was having lemonade with one old couple who were big baseball (Cubs) fans.  They started asking about me and how I ended up being the guy who had to come talk to them.  I told them about all the jobs that I have done where people scream and yell at me (I went from the call center, to collections, to public relations where people can yell at me in person!).  I told them that I was married and had four kids. 

The old man asked, "Well, what do you do to relax from all that?" 

I said, "I umpire."

"Something just ain't right with you," he laughed.

It is pretty funny the more I think about it. I was on the field and just kept breathing and stayed as calm as I could. I grew up playing baseball and would go to a minor league stadium to see games. I liked watching the umpires and always wanted to do it at a high level. Thought about going to pro school years ago but decided against it as a career and I was already flying at that point. So now that I am a little more settled, I figured I would give it a go. 

I learned about a local association from a couple of people on this site and contacted them. Will be doing all high school games and this game I did yesterday was my first scrimmage. My plan was to start at this level and see if I could get up to the higher college ranks, but I might be getting too old for that ( I turn 30 late this summer). Not entirely sure on that process either. I did feel that being on the field does get you away from real life for a couple of hours, which I am a fan of. Thanks for the reply.

[SeeingEyeDog]

@Rover125, I'm not sure how your local association is structured but, if you have a training committee, you'll want to know who the people are on that committee and stay informed about local training opportunities, field clinics, classroom sessions, cage sessions, etc. Most of an umpire's training takes place on a field working games and getting evaluations and guidance from veteran umpires. There are also several associations around the country who host umpire camps that offer chances for extended learning. Anytime you attend any training make sure your assigner knows so that they know you are out there working on your umpiring.

Additionally, without knowing how busy you are outside of umpiring, if you have a night off where you are not assigned a game, I would reach out to your assignor and ask, "Where is our best 2-man crew working tonight?" and then go to that game. If you can find out who the crew chief is, you could also reach out to them in advance and tell them you are a new umpire, you're coming to the game and could you sit in on their pre-game? They may say no and that's ok but, you are trying to avail yourself of every learning opportunity. Take a notebook and pen. Fill the notebook.

Finally, develop local mentors. Maybe these are guys on the training committee, maybe not. But, we all have 2 or 3 or more guys who have been around The Game a long time who we can call anytime to discuss The Craft. It's easy to pick guys who are nice and or friendly. Try to pick guys who are both knowledgeable AND will give you straight and honest feedback.

~Dawg

[kylehutson]

2 hours ago, Rover125 said:

I learned about a local association from a couple of people on this site and contacted them. Will be doing all high school games and this game I did yesterday was my first scrimmage. My plan was to start at this level and see if I could get up to the higher college ranks, but I might be getting too old for that ( I turn 30 late this summer).

That's not impossible. Most (but not all) of the D1 Power 5 guys have some professional experience. I'd definitely suggest going to some college-level clinics (usually in the 3-to-5 day range). At your age, and if you're teachable, you should be able to break into those ranks. Low-level college (NAIA / D3 / JuCo - which is the highest level I work) takes some training and quite importantly, availability. But good talent can get moved up the ranks. I was nearly 40 before I umpired my first rec league game, and didn't even move to high school for another couple of years after that.

FWIW, I don't know any college umpires that only officiate for a living. For the "big dogs" it's a lucrative side-hustle, but not a full-time job. For the rest of us, it's a well-paying hobby.

[Tog Gee]

14 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

Read this website daily.

Yup.

My first scrimmage I was quiet because I was nervous. And I almost blew a call because I was just watching baseball for a moment like "I wonder what's going to happen here." Forgot I was the ump. Never happened again.

Edited March 22 by Tog Gee

[Velho]

Great job @Rover125. Getting out there was half the battle. Keep at it.

Let me share something I've found useful to help us keep perspective on our journey: understanding the Dunning-Kruger effect. I first cam across this in Adam Grant's excellent book "Think Again".

Keep working.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

[StatsUmp]

On 3/20/2024 at 8:32 PM, The Man in Blue said:

Like the gang has said, it gets better every time.  You just have to be willing to be patient with yourself.  As for stress and your personal situation, hopefully umpiring can become the stress relief from all that.  A couple of hours on the dirt, focused on a baseball game with the best seat in the house . . . leave the world behind for a bit.

First, congratulations on getting through your scrimmage. Making it through the first event is a watershed moment of sorts. Now, you know what you're good at and what you can improve on moving forward. In addition to being willing to be patient with yourself, have the attitude that you want to make gradual improvement with each succeeding game.

The one thing I recommend for newer officials and umpires is keeping a journal. I've done this for all three sports I officiate. In the first 2-3 seasons, I would make general comments about the games, and record 2-3 things I felt I did right and 2-3 things I felt I could improve. As I've gained experience, I focus more on unusual plays or situations, or situations that required game management skills and whether they were handled right or if I could have handled them better. This year, my theme seems to be having better communication across all sports, so I've kept that in mind when I self-reflect in this year's entries.

Regarding plate proficiency, the best way to be better and more confident behind the plate is to work it as regularly as reasonably possible. When I have doubleheaders, I usually offer to work game one behind the plate because: (1) I like to get it out of the way and show I'm not a plate-dodging partner, (2) It's the only way to become and stay proficient as a plate umpire, and (3) most teams throw their best pitchers in game one. I will make an exception if my partner is a rookie. I'll offer them game 1 behind the plate to be sure they have a chance to have a full game behind the plate in case game two gets unplayed or cut short for any reason.

Most importantly, remember to relax, exude confidence, and have fun. Good luck this season.

[Richvee]

Congrats on the first scrimmage. Lots of good advice here. Up above you mentioned breathing, and that reminds me of one thing that probably helped my ball/ strikes calls more than anything.

deep inhale as the pitcher sets. Exhale slowly as the pitch is delivered. Track with the eyes. The breathing and steady head just makes the ball so much easier to track. 

[Velho]

On 3/24/2024 at 7:18 PM, Richvee said:

deep inhale as the pitcher sets. Exhale slowly as the pitch is delivered. Track with the eyes. The breathing and steady head just makes the ball so much easier to track. 

I did this on my plate (when I remembered) yesterday. I like it. A lot. This may be a needle mover for me. Thanks @Richvee

[Richvee]

Just now, Velho said:

I did this on my plate (when I remembered) yesterday. I like it. A lot. This may be a needle mover for me. Thanks @Richvee

It takes tremendous concentration and discipline to do it every pitch. But the difference in how you see that ball coming in is amazing. 

[Velho]

3 minutes ago, Richvee said:

It takes tremendous concentration and discipline to do it every pitch. But the difference in how you see that ball coming in is amazing. 

It reminds me of 1) inhale and tighten core on a squat from the firmness of body and mind and 2) the readiness of that little hop you learn in basketball so that you always catch a pass in the triple threat position (with always made me want to shoot and here makes me want to call a strike)

[MadMax]

On 3/21/2024 at 6:57 PM, BLWizzRanger said:

Also, I hear using Wilson products, have been proven, well maybe rumored, to lesson the stress of new umpires. 

On 3/22/2024 at 4:36 AM, Rover125 said:

My plan was to start at this level and see if I could get up to the higher college ranks, but I might be getting too old for that ( I turn 30 late this summer).

My good sir, I have the plausible possibility of advancing significantly in college baseball within the next 2 years (and I already do independent pro)… and I’m 48. In fact, what set me on this course was being evaluated by MLBU… when I was 39. Yes, I was too old to be a MLBU, but that didn’t end my aspirations, nor journey, to high-level baseball. 

On 3/29/2024 at 9:18 PM, Richvee said:

It takes tremendous concentration and discipline to do it every pitch.

@Velho, if you think Rich’s advice is cool (and it is 😎), have I got one for ya… I’ll start a new thread about it later tonight, but in a nutshell, I was reminded / re-inspired from my (younger) interests in archery and target-shooting (biathlon, specifically 🎿). I was absolutely fascinated by Olympic biathlon athletes when I was a teenager, primarily because they could exert themselves at peak performance, then arrest their heart rate so as to sight and shoot at a target the size of a half-dollar (approximately). I got really into archery, too, because as a catcher, I could directly affect my pop-time with drawing back a bow repetitively. 

There’s a breathing technique that comes out of this target 🎯 shooting that I’ll share with you over on that new thread topic. Incredibly helpful for those pitches that come after a rotation to 3B, especially.