Umpire Mentorship Program

Camrose Minor Ball Association is offering a mentorship program to developing umpires within our Association.  The intent of the program is to create an opportunity wherein a seasoned umpire in our vicinity can be assigned to work with a developing umpire throughout the season to help them make their umpiring experiences supportive and positive.

The key to enacting this program, is for our Umpire Director to assign one of our local Senior Umpires to games in order to work with and monitor the young umpires, while helping to develop their skills and confidence making calls. With our young umpires, we feel it is necessary to get them experience and confidence in making calls in non-competitive environments. We are looking at assigning our young umpires (12-13yo) to our 9U games to get an understanding on how to make calls and move around the diamond while developing their skills. We want to ensure that our umpires are not being put in situations they are not ready to take on.    

CMBA is looking for applicants to be our Association Senior Umpires to help Mentor these young developing umpires and guide them through the season. We are looking at paying these Mentors for working with our less experienced umpires and to provide feedback to the umpire and to the Association. If you are interested in becoming one of these Mentors, please contact the CMBA Umpire Director at umpiredirector@camroseball.com for more details on the program and requirements. 

Please use the Umpire Mentorship Form for providing feedback to developing umpires and the Association. 

Mentorship Guidelines

• Take mental notes during the game and provide positive feedback while reinforcing things that are being done well. Identify 2 or 3 opportunities for improvement by demonstrating or illustrating in a way to get the point across. Talk to them between innings as appropriate as well as before and following the game.
• Debrief after the game, exchange contact information, and encourage them to call if they have questions or need help.
• A mentor is there to provide guidance to the new umpires and to assist developing umpires in progressing to be able to work higher levels of baseball over time.

Items to Focus On:

• Apply a large strike zone and the advantages to all participants of calling strikes (about 2/3 of the pitches should be strikes).
• Encourage to use a loud voice while vocalizing calls. Match voice and signals.
• "Take their time" when making calls.
• Encourage base umpires to move to get a proper view of the call and plate umpires to not stay anchored behind the plate.
• Minimize the time between innings--give tips and explain benefits.