An Open Letter to All Ontario Umpires
May 10, 2008
Toronto, ON
For Immediate Release May 9, 2008
Ontario Softball Umpires Association
An Open Letter to All Ontario Umpires
The 2008 season is upon us, and best wishes to all in their officiating this year!
In this, the start of our second year of operation, the leadership of your umpires’ organization would like to express our deepest appreciation for your continued support. We are very pleased with the growth and development of the OSUA, your organization of umpires, has seen since it began last year.
We are proud of the fact that so much has been accomplished in such a short period of time. We think we have been a catalyst in getting more communications and increased visibility for umpiring. We will continue to offer services and benefits of value to our members, the umpires of Ontario, and we shall continue to advocate for their interests.
The focus of our first year has been on the needs of local umpires who generally have had more of an interest in working in their own communities than they do working the more “elite” tournaments. Unfortunately, many have chosen not to be insured because of the cost of registering provincially. We wanted to provide them with the means to go on the diamonds and still be insured cost effectively, so that they, their partners and the leagues they service can be adequately protected.
The OSUA also offered a number of clinics to local, smaller groups of umpires who didn’t have enough members to be eligible for other clinics that require a minimum number of participants. Cost is a factor, but so is the need to make sure umpires are given the training they need to stay on top of their game. Providing introductory umpire development to smaller groups of young umpires who can’t afford to travel to clinics is our way of helping build the umpire base in Ontario. We are trying to build a better base of umpires so that our sport of softball can grow and flourish. More and better umpiring focusing at the grass roots level, not the elite level, will achieve this.
Our vision remains. We want to build a better and healthier organization to advance the sport of softball. One day we hope to be the recognized organization for umpires in the province, a member of Softball Ontario and affiliated with Softball Canada. That vision is not yet a reality but that won’t stop us. We try harder.
In the fall we requested a meeting with the newly appointed PUIC in his first week on the job. Our intention was to extend an olive branch to heal the rift within the Blue Team. When we finally met with Peter in December last year we offered several proposals whereby we would work with and under his direction as part of a larger and stronger Blue Team. His concern was that we were in competition with Softball Ontario. We offered to do what was necessary to not compete in his eyes but unfortunately our attempts were rebuffed. We will always remain open to any future dialogue with SO on how we can work together for the betterment of the game.
Our loyalty is to the members of the Blue Team so this year we have set out to once again provide the services that are needed by those who wear the powder blue. Are we in competition with SO – last year we tried not to be and we would prefer not to be but our members need cost effective insurance and basic training. We have provided and will continue to provide services that meet the needs of the members.
This year SO has created a new category, Local Umpire, as a cheaper alternative to carding. Under SO’s rules if you were carded in the last two years you can’t be a local ump. Therefore the only people who could be local umps are brand new people (therefore untrained) or JDs who should be taking courses and getting more experience. Either way the concept as currently implemented is in our judgement flawed because it is not helping the system to build larger numbers of quality umps at the grass roots level. We applaud the intent but encourage SO to rethink the implementation.
This year our disappointment was that we had to increase our fees. We were able to decrease membership to $20 for those umps who had to register with SO and would not benefit from double insurance but the insured member went to $35. This concerned us greatly until we learned of the $14 increase (18%) in SO fees to $90 or $100 for both FP&SP. Versus our $35 for both, this didn’t seem such a bad deal. Our objective is to always keep our fees to less than a couple of game fees for a house league umpire – something he can afford.
We have offered more courses this year, focusing on providing training in locations where cost or numbers is a factor. To us it is more important that umpires get quality training. A better umpire stays in the program longer and the game benefits from better umpires. It is a win-win situation. We have even gone so far this year as holding a baseball to softball umpire conversion course to help our dark blue and grey colleagues better understand our game.
We will continue to offer opportunities to officiate at major tournaments such as the Kitchener Jamboree. We will also be promoting opportunities for international assignments with NAFA. This experience helps develop the quality of umpiring in our ranks.
We will continue to advocate for better transparency and openness in the accounting of funds. We believe that every umpire should be able to know where the $90 registration fee, the clinic fees and clothing purchase kickbacks are going, not just the select few who have had to sign confidentiality agreements to prevent them from disclosing the details.
The OSUA will continue to work hard on behalf of the umpires of Ontario. We’ve seen a change in the attitude and interest among some at the top. That reaction to our actions in the last year is largely due to the continued support for the OSUA that you have given us. And we thank you for that.
Best wishes in the coming season!
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors, OSUA
