Congratulations to Mark Taylor for being awarded the Softball Alberta Umpire Memorial scholarship this year. Last year the award was also awarded to a CMSUA umpire. Way to represent!
Scholarship information is available at http://www.softballalberta.ca/awards/scholarships/awards-scholarships.asp
Have a look at this video! It is a televised special about the Science of umpiring.
Although this video shows you how hard the job can be, with proper training and practice anyone can be a good umpire..
It can take quick reflexes to make snap decisions, but the best umpires take their time to make a call and delay until they have seen everything.
It gives me great pleasure on behalf of our entire membership to congratulate Emma Jerome Smith and Mark Taylor for attaining their Level lll at the U16 A provincial championship this past weekend in Leduc. Mark was awarded the plate in the winner-winner game with Emma working third base. That game sends the winning team directly to the final. Emma was awarded the gold medal plate with Mark working first base. I was the DUIC at the tournament but had no influence on the final assignments as I removed myself from those selections. I watched with great pride as these two young umpires quietly and unknowingly became leaders of the crew, a crew in which they were they youngest by a dozen years.
It is because of their hard work and dedication that they were able to achieve what they did. As well Mark has been invited to be part of the crew at the U16 A Canadian championship in August here in Calgary. Emma was also invited but will be in Surrey play in the U21 Western. That tournament will be a Shouldice so come down and watch some games.
A fantastic feat by both of them, and again congratulations.
Jim
The divisions have all varied (at their own pace) from the CMSA Rulebook. The following is the current rules in play, and will be maintained and accurate.
Continue reading "Summary of CMSA league rules"
A reminder of the following:
30/30 weather policy. If the sound of thunder is within 30 seconds of the lightning strike, all play must immediately cease and the game put on a weather delay of a minimum of 30 minutes. All participants should immediately take cover, and the diamond vacated including the dugout. The 30 minute window will reset each time this criteria is met.
Also, especially close to playoffs, it is important that we keep the games going when we can. Calgary weather changes quickly. If a game needs to be stopped due to weather, we should try to only delay the game if sufficient light is available and there is a chance the weather will clear up and the diamonds will be playable. Don’t immediately call the game. Sometimes a 20 minute delay is all that is needed.
If the coaches/parents want to call the game before it starts, and you feel the game has a chance to proceed, strongly advise them to wait instead of giving up on the weather. Once the game has started it is the umpire who will call/delay the game, not the coaches.
With any multi-diamond locations, the senior umpire should make the call. Once one diamond has called/delayed their games, all diamonds must follow.
See the CMSA official weather policy at: CMSUA Weather Policy
This coming Sunday June 7 at the Calgary Women’s Fastpitch Association’s annual tournament Jim will be officiating his last game.
For those who will be at the tournament please be sure to seek him out and thank him for his years of service to the sport of Fastpitch softball; and for those who won’t be at the tournament please drop him a line at jkportman@shaw.ca.
Jim’s last game will be it’s scheduled for Sunday at 12:45 on Shouldice diamond 6.
He’s going out at the top of his game and before he loses those good looks that he imagines that he has; that and he has run out of people to tell ‘THE WATCH’ joke to.
Thanks to everyone for a very successful tournament. Now that it is done, our bodies can tell us just how many games we did! It is truly appreciated.
31 umpires covered 97 games and 152 slots. During that time we all learned something, Senior Umpires included....
CMSUA earned over $2000 in operating money because of the effort of ALL our umpires. Thank you. This will go a long way in making sure we have equipment, educational material, and support for our future and current rising stars in CMSUA.
Everyone doing their part was truly appreciated by me. I couldn't have done it without all of your help.
See you all on the diamonds!
Geoff Larsen/Grant Fischer
UIC's - 2015 SBR Tournament
We are in progress of scheduling for this weekend. The weather forecast looks excellent. Sunny and early 20's.
This year both SBR tournaments are combined into one weekend. This means we have 10 diamonds to cover over the weekend. As always, we need all the help we can get.
This is a training/safe environment. Normally our umpire fees for the first tournament are kept/donated to CMSUA to finance operations for the year.
This year since we need all the help we can get, and since our umpires normally get paid at the subsequent weekend, the CMSUA executive has agreed to pay $20 for each slot instead of having some umpires donate their time and some get paid.
If you haven't put in your availability yet, and are available, please let us know. The schedule will be released on Wednesday.
All Diamonds are in the NE and located close to Vista Heights [Deerfoot Diamonds/Mayland Heights]
CMSUA Umpire pay cheques will be available at the tournament for the first half of the season.
Thank you
SBR Blues Tournament is a go for this weekend. Come on down and watch some games and/or see umpires in training. Want to learn more about umpiring? This is the best place to be. Watch 1-2-3 man systems. See new umpires and experienced umpires. Ball is ages U10 - U19.
Vista Heights Diamonds - 27th Avenue & 16th Street NE- Friday 6:45pm to Sunday 4pm. Non-stop games.
Message us for more info