Q: I am just wondering how old you have to be to become an umpire? My daughter will be turning 14 years old this year.
A: We are happy to hear about your interest in becoming an umpire.
We try not to set a lower boundary. It depends on how mature she is and how much respect she is able to command on the diamonds.
Ideally for youths they should only be umpiring at their age level or below. It is more difficult to umpire older kids, but not impossible.
The issue we have is that CMSA doesn't (yet) assign umpires to their U12 and U14 games. These games DO need umpiring, but are done by volunteer parents of the Home Team. The first division we assign umpires is U16 (Born in 2000 or 2001).
If she does take the clinic, we have multiple weekend tournaments where U10/U12/U14 kids play and we do need umpires! It is an excellent opportunity to make some extra money and to get her confidence up by doing a bunch of games.
In any case, umpiring is very fulfilling and a wonderful and rewarding opportunity for both yourself as a parent and your child. It will teach both of you valuable skills, and allow you to become closer by achieving a common goal.
I suggest she attends the clinic and see if it is something she excels at. There is no cost to her to join.