Fellow Officials,
Well, the high school seasons in both Virginia and Maryland are now over. As you saw in my previous email, the crew for the Virginia class 6 state championship game was Anthony Mayer on the plate, Matt Van Parys at first, Matt Sauter at second and Paul Porto at third.
Anthony hasn’t been with us that long but as most of you already know, there isn’t a harder worker or more dedicated umpire in our organization. He is a sponge, taking information and advice from whatever avenue is available to him. In fact, Anthony once told me that he watches every game he works on whatever streaming service is available
Do you want to move up in our association? Do you want to umpire better and higher profile games?
Reach out to Anthony and follow his path! Well done to Anthony and all the umpires who worked state assignments in both Maryland and Virginia, especially the guys who worked a state game for the first time.
These days, there are more avenues for improvement available to young umpires than ever before. One example of an avenue for improvement is coming up next month at Patriot Park. MAC is hosting a two-man umpire camp from July 10-13, and a three-man umpire camp from July 17-20. To register go to https://macumpires.org/2025-fairfax-summer-clinics/. Take advantage of these opportunities. Let’s move on.
Now that the summer is here remember to stay hydrated, especially before those long weekend tournaments. You should start to hydrate days before! If you’ve never done more than a couple games in a row, but want to make extra cash, have a plan to manage your hydration. Implement the plan days before (giving your body time to adjust to higher levels of hydration) and make sure you bring plenty to drink to the park.
On those days when the temperature gets up into the 90’s please, please, please keep an eye on your partner as well! One of the characteristics of heat exhaustion is that you don’t always know how severe it is. Do not, under any circumstances allow your partner – even if he is senior to you – continue umpiring if he or she is visibly affected by the heat.
This goes for contact to the head as well. If your partner is doing the plate and takes a shot off his mask, do NOT assume that he is OK, even if he says he is! Give him time to recover and consider taking him off the plate. Again – it does not matter if the umpire is senior to you. Look out for each other! Lastly, keep in mind that the day’s temperature is magnified if you’re working on a turf field.
Our next publication isn’t until July 14th, so between now and then, I will have more details about our in-person ‘meeting’ at Capital One Park. I hope many of you can attend. We’re trying to work out a deal regarding adult beverages and free admission to the games that night. There is a $5 parking fee at that park, but it’s right next to the Silver Line if you don’t want to drive. I hope you can come.
Please remember that the deadline to make any comments on the proposed constitutional updates and by-laws is June 30th. Reach out any time, but remember, if you want to recommend any edits to the document we are proposing, please reach out before the 30th.
Finally, some of you may already know that MAC assigns volleyball officials in Loudoun County and some private schools in other parts of Northern Virginia. If anyone is interested in working volleyball this fall, please let me know. Training will start next month.
That’s it for me. Have a great summer.
Dave Maher
