Umpiring at the Okay Corral

UMPIRING AT THE OKAY CORRAL

In the Summer heat of 2004, it struck the boys at the Tucson Javelinas, that this might just be about the perfect time to have an umpires clinic in Arizona.  Well, that was fine for the locals but it was a most interesting time for the Umpire’s Coach Brian Green, and his son Sam who slipped away from the melting snow in New York City to be confronted with the wilting cactus and howling coyote.

Tucson has always been a very active club in the Arizona area, and it was no surprise that they had organized everything so beautifully for the day.  The venue was fantastic, they had the audio/visual gear ready to go, a field to practice in and a bar for afterwards.  (These guys should run for President.)

The 6 hour course was held in Tucson and covered all of the aspects of the Tier A certification for Level 1.  There were also plenty of opportunities for the umpires to get together at the end and complete the “What’s you decision?” section which always causes plenty of argument and heated discussion as they put their rule interpretations to the test.
After the lectures, it was off to the local High School and we went through our decision making techniques in the 115 degree heat.  Well why not?  It’s the type of weather they play and umpire in anyway.

We were lucky enough to be joined by Brian’s son, Sam Green, who was an A Grade boundary umpire from Australia.  Sam showed the boys the finer points of boundary umpiring including throw in  practice as part of the course.  Correct signaling is the hallmark of a good umpire and again he was able to show them the intricacies of these as they pertained to boundary umpiring.  He introduced them to trigger running, positioning and most importantly, whistle blowing.  We all know what a soft whistle means, so after this day in Tucson we don’t expect you’ll hear any over there.

Thanks so much to Anthony Stark and the boys for your hospitality, vitality and energy that you showed to the visiting umpires and to the course and congratulations to all of the umpires who participated. We look forward to them “graduating” at Nationals in 2005.

- Brian Green
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