This weekend, 12/13 April, 8 candidates completed the BASU Advanced Course. This was the first Advanced course BASU have run since 2019. The Saturday comprised mostly classroom based work, with in-depth discussion of rules with candidates challenging each other to answer complex scenario based questions. There were also presentations on game management and active listening, and the mechanics and responsibilities of the two-umpire system. The candidates challenged each other but also worked well as a group.
On Sunday, the candidates had the opportunity to put the theory into practice thanks to the Hit&Run tournament who allowed us to use two of their fields throughout the day. The candidates showed how much they had learned on the Saturday, and were able to make some very close calls with accuracy. The course was led by BASU Trainers Chris Lunn, Colin Russell and Pete Saunders.
The candidates were:
Matt Andrews
Sarah Barnes
Charlotte Bentley
Dallas Huntley
Lukas Kelly
Michael Lott
Allan Moffat
Natalie Read
We hope to run another of these courses next year, so if you are an experienced BASU umpire who would like to learn more, please email BASUTrainingOfficer@gmail.com and I'll be in touch.
We are also coming to the end of the online BASU courses we have been running this year, with just two of the eight courses yet to complete their practical days. The courses started in mid-January, running fortnightly with Zoom calls and blocks of videos to watch. We had 123 candidates attending courses organised by 8 leagues and associations across the UK and expect over 100 completions.
We will be running these courses again next year, so if you would like to become a BASU umpire, a league umpire or gain a better understanding of the rules, please contact your UiC, or email BASUTrainingOfficer@gmail.com, and we'll make sure you're given all the information once the dates are confirmed.