Yes, I go through the Montco Umpires Association for any tournament I ever run. I believe in doing the right thing. I am loyal to them. And I know Sully is too. That being said ...
Frank Horvath, our UIC used to run free clinics for all Norristown umpires and he also come out and evaluated new umpires, but the numbers at his clinics declined for whatever reason.
The state has umpire clinics in 4 different areas now. The Southeast area has been in Lancaster or somewhere down here. The state pushes for our umps to attend, but their ASA registration is close to or even more than 50 bucks now, plus some umpire chapters charge more money to be part of that chapter (not sure if Montco does). And then the state charges some 40 bucks to come to these clinics. I think the last number of years, we may have had 2-3-4 umpires attend these clinics. It becomes a money issue for some people.
We used to have clinics at the KOP Firehouse, but had a tough time even raising enough money to rent the hall.
This is not the fault of Sully or the Montco umpires. Its like this across the state, just as it is with less teams playing, we have less umpires.
And Montco does promote trying to get newer and/or younger guys and ladies to umpire. But it's not easy. If I said anything inaccurate, I'm sure Sully, Halter, Frank, etc can correct me. Thanks, Steve
PS. If I get guys that are not registered with ASA, then the entire tournament (or league) becomes a liability issue. And they are held accountable as I been at meetings where complaints are heard and dealt with. Some umps have been suspended for a while. This year was obviously different due to Covid. No meetings, etc.
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