Winter Ball Umpires Report

The Bulls Baseball Club winter competition is underway again and I am pleased to say that the Bulls now have six umpires to cover the three time slots on a Saturday afternoon.

Jimmy Davidson is leading the group. Jim is a young at heart, but grey headed umpire with forty six years experience of umpiring baseball. Kym "Uncontrollable" Smith, who is an accredited umprire, with several years experiemce, assists Jim in developing the "New" umpires.

This season also sees four trainee umpires helping our wiley veterans. The recruits generally assist Jim or Kym when they are not playing.

Billy "Responsorabull" Magoulianos is the "old hand" of the recruits. He is into his second season. Bill is very confident and works both plates and bases. Bill has understands the basics very well and, like all "young" umpires, is now working on the subtle nuiances of the umpiring baseball.

Craig "SlidaBull" Martin is a rookie umpire and taken to the umpiring caper like a duck to water. He is comfortable working the plate or the working bases. He has already taken solo control of a number of games.

We also have a "very junior" trainee in Alex Milburn. Alex is 14 years old and plays with the Sons of Bulls with his father Greg. So far he has just umpired bases but is getting a good grasp of the trade and is just about ready to umpire his first plate.

Our fourth trainee umpire is AJ (Andrew Johnston). Andrew has only limited opportunity to umpire as he is also dedicated to administration of various Bulls portfolios. In a previous "lives" AJ has umpired Australian Rules Football and Netball at various levels and has recently taken up refereeing his sons soccer games, so should have no trouble moving in to position to make his calls when umpiring baseball.

All four trainee umpires still have a lot to learn and a long way to go but they are keen, they are learning the basics and they are having fun doing their umpiring in a protected environment. At the end of the winter season all four will be given details of umpire training conducted by the Baseball Umpires Assoc of SA (BUASA) and it is hoped that they will attend this training as a next step to furthering their skills. Instruction at the BUASA courses is conducted by Andrew Bell and Blake Halligan with other senior South Australian umpires assisting. Anyone interested in doing a bit of winter ball umpiring with a view to learning the trade should ring Kym, myself (Jim) or Andrew Bell on the number below or contact Paul Begg at Baseball SA head quarters.

See you on the diamond ... Jim Davidson