This morning, weather permitting, my 17-year-old daughter will be making her umpiring debut with me, umpiring 3 low-stress 14U scrimmages with 3 teams just happy to get on the field after a terrible spring weather-wise. My guess is these are 14U players who are not of HS age, so likely younger 14Us, the same age players Casey is coaching for her club.
A little about my kid. Indulge me and we’ll get back to the topic, I promise.
Casey has been playing softball since she was 7 years old. While the whole notion of travel/club teams still seems ridiculous to me 10 years later, she played 8U and the next year when the coach moved up with his daughter, I stepped in and coached. I did it again during her second 10U season. Loved it, but realized that she’s better off having someone who’s not her parent coaching her. I’d love to coach again, but just not my kid.
My kid’s a catcher and middle infielder. She started in 8U as a catcher. Then didn’t catch again as her primary position until last year. The club she’s with now, Thundercats of Lake Mills, saw potential and athleticism in her and moved her back to the position. 18 months later, she’s got a pop time around 1.8 seconds and is on a Top 50 prospect list for her class (2023). She led the team in hitting and OBP last summer from the leadoff position and was moved up to 18U a year early this year and was just made a team captain. She’s also an assistant for the club’s 14U team that has its first tournament next weekend.
Enough dad-brag. My point here with the bragging, though, is that Casey is someone who *should* become an umpire. Maybe it’s part time now (honestly, it’s probably almost no-time now, but maybe I can plant the seed) while she plays club ball and hopefully at a college in a couple of years, but she is a catcher, knows the game, knows the zone, is a leader.
How many athletes are in this position? Either their playing days end at 18-19 years of age when their HS days end *or* maybe at 22-23 when their college playing days end. Few athletes go pro, most get their degrees and move on with life. Few of those people are becoming officials.
Anyway, one of my Facebook friends who coaches girls basketball and softball as well as officiating multiple sports posted that they needed *an* umpire for some 14U scrimmages this morning.[1]Full disclosure – I was sitting at a bar with my wife, Michele, watching the Phillies (blacked out on MLB.tv because they were playing the Brewers) lose. I reached out to the coach and asked if he needed 1 because they already had one or because they just wanted someone to call balls and strikes.
It was the latter. So I offered my services, provided that (1) I could bring Casey to work with me and (2) we both get paid the same amount.
Honestly, I would’ve done this for free and let Casey take the pay they were offering ($150 for 3 scrimmages), but I wanted Casey to see that she wasn’t getting my pay, she was earning her own. They came back offering $40 each for the 3 scrimmages and I told them I had to ask Casey about it.
She was stunned that *she* was going to make *$120* on her own. I think at first she thought she was going to have to split the money with me. She was in, way more easily and quickly than I thought she’d be, but I think she’s ready to earn some money on her own.
At first I told her I would simply do the plate, but we’ve moved now to her taking her catching gear and taking her turn back there. What better environment is there for her to umpire her first plate?
How do you motivate a young person to try officiating?
- Pay them
- Support them / make them feel safe
This will definitely happen today. First off, it’s a scrimmage and low-stress, but I wouldn’t let a young partner who’s not my daughter get run over on the field. So I definitely have her back.
I started in earnest [2]As I mentioned in a previous installment, I umpired my town’s equivalent of Little League back when I was 14.as a college freshman. At the time, campus jobs paid the $3.35 minimum wage. Officiating JV games at local high schools paid $25, cash. In 1987 it would take me eight hours to make $25 on campus and a JV game was less than a three hour commitment.
I look back on those days now fondly. Officiating provided me with a second income stream in my 20s and 30s when we were buying our first home, paying down student debt, and saving to have our family. I could work as little or as much as possible and it taught me some valuable skills I have been able to use in other areas of my life.
As the great NFL white hat Jerry Markbreit said, “All of my best friends are officials.” It’s true for me. When I had the honor of working a high school state football final, I looked at our crew and thought, “How cool is it I get to do this with four of my best friends in the world?” Officiating’s provided me with some of my best life’s experiences.
We need to get young people involved and figure out how to keep them through the early years so they can start having those experiences, too.
Paying them a fair wage for their work (we’re coming back to that tomorrow) and supporting and protecting them while they learn (later this coming week) are the two pillars that get people like Casey from their first scrimmage to their first state championship game.