BASU, the British Association of Softball Umpires, is planning to offer a one-day Advanced Slowpitch Course to a wider group of umpires in 2015.
BASU has run a couple of Advanced Courses on a trial basis over the past two years and would now like to extend the scope of the course and the number of umpires taking it. But umpires will need to qualify for the course based on an email exam.
Those umpires who do attend the course, which will be offered free of charge, will not have to renew their qualification through re-taking the standard two-day course for another four years.
Seminar
The Advanced Course will take the form of a seminar, and subjects covered will include two-man and three-man systems, game control and player/coach management. The group will talk through game play situations to analyse how and why decisions are made and will concentrate on movement around the diamond, focusing on leading edge theory, angles and distance for force outs and tag plays, and why these are important.
To qualify for the Advanced Course, umpires must be fully paid-up BASU members (or prepared to pay on the day of the course), with a current BASU qualification. Applicants will then be sent 50 open-book questions by email, with answers and relevant rule numbers expected to come from the ISF Rulebook. Those achieving a pass mark of 90% will be accepted on the course.
Each Advanced Course will have two trainers and the number of trainees will be limited.
Two courses
BASU's intention is to hold two Advanced Courses this year at different locations, probably in April.
All BASU tournament umpires will be contacted about the course, and League Heads will be asked to suggest league-based BASU umpires who might benefit from it.
For more information, please contact BASU Training Officer Chris Moon.