Training
During the course, students learn every phase of officiating in the 2-man umpiring system, which is used in the Rookie through high-A levels of the minor leagues. Many concepts, such as positioning and coverages, are taught on the field at the beginning of the session in something of a shock immersion program. After this initial period, those fundamentals are drilled over and over so that they become automatic for the prospective umpires. All of these concepts and drills conform to the requirements of the minor leagues, who rely solely on the umpire schools for new officials.
While as much time as possible is spent on the field, there is also a substantial classroom element to the course. The entire rulebook is covered in detail, and tests are given on most days. Class hours are from about 8:30 am to 11:00 on days with good weather, with the rest of the day given to instruction on the field. In years with lots of sunny weather, evening class sessions may be held as well, as on-field instruction is always given priority.
At the end of the school, a certain number of prospects are chosen to go to another vetting school, this one run directly by the minor leagues, which makes final selections for who continues into the minors.
Read more about this topic: Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School
Famous quotes containing the word training:
“An educational method that shall have liberty as its basis must intervene to help the child to a conquest of liberty. That is to say, his training must be such as shall help him to diminish as much as possible the social bonds which limit his activity.”
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952)
“The area [of toilet training] is one where a child really does possess the power to defy. Strong pressure leads to a powerful struggle. The issue then is not toilet training but who holds the reins—mother or child? And the child has most of the ammunition!”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, its probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)