Additional Information
If you think you want to umpire, get in the game early.
"Start young and work as many games as you can," says umpire Sherry Winn.
"You have to have experience to get better, so every game you can work will
help you."
And don't think you know everything about a sport. "Be willing to listen
to older officials and take their advice. They've been where you are and know
what's best for you."
Participating in a game isn't enough: you have to study it. "I thought
I knew the sport before I started officiating," says Winn. "I found out different.
There are so many things I didn't know."
People who are serious about being an umpire take courses on how to officiate.
"They dedicate themselves by attending rules clinics and umpire schools,"
says Bernie Profato, who teaches umpiring across the United States.
Learn the mechanics of signaling in the sport. "Good officials not only
must make the right call, but they have to look good doing it," says Winn.