Umpires
Key Benefits of Becoming a Youth Baseball Umpire
RCBA has implemented a new Zero Tolerance Umpire Bullying policy. Please review the policy here: https://www.richmondcitybaseball.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/3277/2024/04/RCBA-Zero-tolerance-umpire-bullying.pdf
Builds character.
Becoming a referee/umpire is a huge responsibility. It requires dedication, commitment, and it is demanding both physically and emotionally. Completing just one season behind the plate or on the field creates a mountain of situational experience. For a young person preparing to enter the work force, you could not ask for better resume-building material. As an umpire, you have to be in charge and keep a clear head in pressure situations. That’s a skill that can be a huge benefit in life beyond the baseball diamond.
Creates Valuable Contacts.
As a young umpire, you are thrust into the world of adults. You are typically managed by the umpire coordinator, and through games get to know coaches and their staff. You will attend training and other courses placing you into an environment where there is time to network and get to know others working towards similar goals. You can never have enough contacts, especially at an early age.
Keeps You Active and Involved
A typical umpire schedule will require working multiple games on a given day, sometimes back-to-back or with downtime in between and often multiple days per week. While an umpire’s schedule can be demanding at times, at the youth sports level there is ample time for school work, working other jobs and time for friends and family. Before an umpire takes the field for the first time, there is ample classroom and field training, plus self-study of rules and regulations. All of this is time well spent, and time building skills and character.
Staying active and involved does not just apply to teens. Umpiring is a great way to stay involved in the sport beyond one’s playing days. Some people get to play in high school and an even smaller number continue playing in college or professionally, but the career of an umpire is significantly longer. If you love a sport, stay involved as an umpire and use the skills and knowledge you have gained to benefit others.
Appeals to Men and Women
Umpiring can be done equally well by men or women and therefore all the above benefits apply equally well to both sexes. Management experience can be hard to come by at an early age and the responsibilities and rigors of umpiring can be very beneficial to both boys and girls. Girls may especially benefit because umpiring can provide them with an early position of authority, acting as a foundation for more demanding positions in the future.
Financially Rewarding
For a teen, earning their own pay can be rewarding and motivating. A teen starting out in a local association, like RCBA, typically works their way up from the young age groups to the older age groups with per-game earning increasing along the way. Some umpires fall in love with the work and choose to make a career of it, working in the minor leagues and college circuits while waiting for a spot to open in the “show.”
2022 Umpire Pay Rates
In the rare case where only one umpire is available for the game, the umpire will be paid the double Plate Umpire Fee.
Learn the Rules Better
Yes, kind of like learning the times tables, or the periodic table, or algebra, but more fun. Yes, you learn many of the rules when you play. But training to be an umpire and actually being an umpire will solidify your understanding of the rules and give you the confidence you may be lacking when it comes to the many rules of baseball.
For any questions please email emieck@yahoo.ca