2013 Softball Canada Umpire
Blue Convention was held March 29-31 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

There were about 275 umpires from across Canada and a few from other
countries in attendance.

Numerous workshops were presented and the Canadian Indicator Club awards
banquet was also held Saturday night.

British Columbia had 37 umpires attend the 2013 Umpires Blue Convention last
weekend in Hamilton, ON. Former BC UIC Tom Bell was also in attendance. A
complete list of attendees from BC and a group picture will be posted later
in the week.

The Amateur Softball Association from the USA had there Supervisor of
Umpires Kevin Ryan attend as a presenter along with District 11 Regional UIC
Steve Riswold, the infamous Wild Bill Silves from Mt. Vernon, WA, and Deputy
Supervisor of Umpires Eastern USA Jim Craig from Buffalo, NY.

It's a minimum five-hour flight from Vancouver and due to aircraft problems
with West Jet, many had a 16 day at the airport and on the planes.

Although the news people mix it up with baseball the clip is interesting,
with the Softball Canada National Director of Umpires, Brian Van Os, doing a
'light on his feet' dance move for an out and red-shirted committee chair
Mitch Zuk was also very informative.

Their host committee took care of all the details including the masterful
job done by 21 other volunteers with transportation to/from three airports
and all organized by Tim Whitelaw. A great time was held by all.

The 2016 Softball Canada Blue Convention, pending officially signed
contracts, has been awarded to British Columbia who last hosted the event in
1997.

The group that will take on the huge organizational challenge is the Lower
Mainland Softball Umpires Association from Surrey, BC.

The event will be held somewhere in the Vancouver and surrounding areas.

Start making plans to attend this prestigious event now.

See you all in BC in three years!

Bob Henning
Softball BC UIC