Welcome!
2021 Certainly was a great year to recover. As we prepare for a full season of softball in St. Louis, I’m excited we have been able to get some virtual training sessions out to our membership along with hosting a couple ‘In-Person’ events. We still have a couple more things to do before the season begins. We hope you join us! An exciting NEW thing for 2022 is our alliance with the Three River’s Umpire Association. We look forward to growing that partnership! Unfortunately our numbers are only a small percentage of what they were five years ago. Recruiting umpires, either brand new, or from other existing organizations is important. We have increased our fast pitch per-game pay to $45.00 & $50.00 respectfully. Our program is thriving and is working to become among the top in the country.
Ron Taylor, former JO Commissioner, has been appointed as our USA Softball of St. Louis Commissioner. In addition, John Kiene of the Chaos has been appointed as our USA Softball of St. Louis JO Commissioner. Both have several exciting ideas for our program which are designed for even further growth. We will need everyone we have, plus anyone we can gain to help increase our umpire pool here locally. If you are a new umpire, you are taking the first steps into a career that has great opportunities and many chances for advancement. For veteran umpires, you are taking the steps to keep growing and learning provided you are attending our various clinics, camps, and rules nights.
USA Softball of St. Louis is proud to be a member association of the governing body. As part of that responsibility, we encourage all our umpires interested in renewing their membership to start that process in November. Remember the importance of getting your Background Check completed. In addition, the required Safe Sports Training, which is FREE, needs to be done by the end of December in order to be ready for any training session in the spring. Our focus will continue to be on providing opportunities locally for our member umpires through online training, in-person clinics, breakout sessions, camps, USA Softball National Umpire Schools, and Advanced Camps for those who really want to excel “their game.” We all want you to succeed, and be the BEST YOU CAN BE!
It really can not be said enough, we continue to need more umpires! We are looking for young or old, male or female, experienced or brand new! If you’re looking, or know someone looking for a way to earn some extra money – then consider umpiring with our program! Talk to your friends and acquaintances – see if they want to join our association and make it better. The extra money they can earn certainly can be a major benefit! We need Slow Pitch & Fast Pitch Umpires – talk with those in your league play and see if they will join “our team!” We have information on how to become a USA Softball Umpire on this very site. Just look at the left column and click on the LINK to see what it takes to become a USA Softball Member Umpire. Get the process started, and then come out to learn how to manage and call a game.
With your membership, you get online training established through Safe Sports, rule books, exams, clinics, breakout sessions, and every USA Softball Member Umpire gets insurance which covers them during their USA Softball, high school softball & college softball games too! It’s a great deal!
Umpires should complete their registration process using our ONLINE MEMBERSHIP FORM! Returning Umpires Will Receive the Winter Newsletter with the Registration Form embedded into it. We continue moving toward a more GREEN association, particularly concerning paper documents. Consequently, many of the documents enable you to type in the fields, and the information is sent to us digitally. Please be sure to have the latest version of Adobe Reader (Free) installed on your computer.
USA Softball of St. Louis umpires ~ If you have only been umpiring a few years, or did not make a clinic last year, then you MUST attend clinic time this year to remain in good standing. The more clinic time you put in next spring, the better you will be prepared!
Greg Pohl
USA Softball of St. Louis
Umpire-In-Chief