Letter Sent to Little Leagues and clinics
Posted Jan 5, 2010
The following text was sent in a letter to Little Leagues by CABAU regarding Level 1 and 2 clinics.
Jan 1, 2010
CABUA has recently reviewed its ability to effectively host and organize the Level 1 & 2 National Umpire Certification Program (NUCP) clinics in Calgary.
First a brief re-cap of CABUA’s role in organizing these clinics over the past ten years.
Until last year, CABUA took on the ‘clinic host’ role for the annual north and south Level 1-2 Clinics. CABUA paid the NUCP Clinic Host Fee (which partially covered instructor costs) and booked a suitable facility which was subsequently reimbursed by the District and/or local Leagues. CABUA provided clinic promotional material and encouraged Leagues to actively work at recruiting prospective new umpires via their annual league registration process, parent meetings etc. Some of the clinic participants left the clinics ready to take CABUA assignments umpiring at the Junior and occasionally Senior LL level. Most of the younger students were only comfortable, or permitted, to take assignments working League Major and Minor levels. The actual instructing part and turning out some promising umpire prospects always seemed to work great in the end. Orchestrating the cost-sharing between Districts and Leagues was often a struggle and, like many user groups in Calgary, securing a suitable indoor facility at an affordable price became very challenging.
Last year, a new approach was tried with the Districts and it was, by far, the most successful year ever. It demonstrated the absolute best in cooperation in securing great facilities through local league community contacts and a great mix of instructors and their experience backgrounds. In the end, it seemed everybody used their organizational strengths – the District with its umbrella coordination efforts between Leagues and funding sources; the local Leagues with their grass roots reach to parents, athletes and community facilities; and CABUA with its depth of NUCP qualified instructors with experience including Major, Minor and Independent League Professional Baseball and Little League World Series veterans. These were not CABUA-membership recruitment opportunities as CABUA does not assign umpires at the league levels these students normally end up umpiring.
To further align and improve this process, the following describes how the NUCP Clinics are organized elsewhere in Alberta:
- When the need is foreseen, local Leagues, Districts or Minor Baseball Associations complete a NUCP Clinic Application (available on the Baseball Alberta website at the following link: http://www.baseballalberta.com/?p=umpires_clinics but please note that the current version of this document is for 2009 and may have clinic fees and other details updated in near future for 2010) including proposed date(s). Some rural communities would host a clinic every two or three years while others, such as Calgary, need at least one Level 1-2 clinic every year to keep pace with their umpire needs.
- After the clinic date is confirmed by the Provincial Supervisor of Umpires responsible for the delivery of NUCP clinics, the Clinic Host then begins its clinic promotion and recruitment efforts and books a suitable local facility based on its expected attendance.
- The NUCP Instructor Committee incorporates the Clinic into its provincial planning process and assigns the required number of instructors to meet its instructor/student ratio standard. Instructional materials are procured and shipped to the Lead Instructor. Instructors in the Calgary area are assigned clinics throughout the Province so it is important that we are in sync with a common provincial planning process.
- The Lead Instructor is required to make contact with the local Host representative (usually multiple times) to confirm gym/classroom arrangements, latest participant estimates and other planning coordination.
- The Clinic host is responsible for the pre-clinic registration process, receiving participant fees, guaranteeing a minimum number of clinic attendees (12 in 2009) and initial payment for facility rental fees. There is a $450. charge to the Host if the clinic is cancelled in the 5 or fewer days prior to the scheduled clinic date.
- Application for partial or full reimbursement of reasonable facility fees may be made to the Provincial Supervisor of Umpires responsible for the delivery of NUCP clinics but this must be pre-authorized prior to final confirmation of any booking.
Other shared responsibility details are provided throughout the process but generally, the host looks after the administrative processes while the NUCP Instructors look after providing quality instruction appropriate to the host organizations’ needs.
So what is different under this new process?
Actually, not much is different compared to recent years. The main difference would be that, as elsewhere in Alberta, the Host organization applies for a clinic and after approval proceeds to book and prepay facility rental costs directly, versus via CABUA and the Host bears responsibility for advertising, recruiting and registration of students. Instructors assigned will primarily be local NUCP-qualified instructors who are very familiar with any Little League or local league rule differences. There will still be opportunity for special guest instructors when available and travel costs can be covered. Examples from past years include when we brought in a former MLB Umpire and last year when the Little League Canada UIC from B.C. was part of the instructor team. CABUA will still use whatever clinic marketing reach it has, via its website or membership, to promote any Calgary or area clinics. Also CABUA still intends to host its 18 week Winter Umpire School in years where there is sufficient demand for this advanced level of instruction and when suitable facilities are available.
This information is being provided at this time so that the District and League off-season meetings and planning sessions can incorporate the process described.
Please feel free to contact me if any clarification is needed or questions arise from your local Leagues. We look forward to the 2010 clinic season and believe that this approach to clinic delivery will best take advantage of the strengths and resources available in the various baseball organizations.
Yours truly,
Mike Whitely
President, CABUA
