Today, I want to talk about ratings. I have begun, by asking a select group of leaders within the association, to comprehensively evaluate our umpire ratings system with the goal of improving it.
A few of the questions to be answered:
- Is the ratings process effective?
- Is there synergy between the evaluations at games, ratings, and ultimately the future assignments that umpires receive?
- Do senior officials/crew chiefs give effective feedback after games?
I don’t expect the evaluation to be super- fast, but that’s OK – the review doesn’t have to be quick; it has to be thorough.
We are likely to reach out in the future to get feedback on the ratings process from the general membership, so please look out for that. At the end of the day, we may make significant changes or we may wind up making some minor tweaks. In the meantime, our current ratings process will still be used.
One request I have of our membership; I would like to ask each one of you to be thorough when putting ratings into Arbiter. One thing our ratings committee members consistently lament is the lack of real feedback. I must confess that I am as guilty as anyone when completing those evals, which is something that I intend to change this year. As you know, certain rating scores require an explanation. Keep that explanation short, professional, constructive, and concise. Remember that the person you are rating will be able to see your comments.
Next, a word about membership. For those of you who may not know, NVBUA-MAC has four tiers of active membership.
First, is the “applicant”. As the term implies, an applicant is a new umpire seeking membership. This is generally umpires who complete the training and work for a full season.
Next is “probationary”. A probationary member is generally (but not always) a second-year umpire. Applicants are approved to become probationary members by the executive board.
“Full member” is (almost) everyone else. A probationary member is voted to full membership status by the membership.
“Life member” is the 4th and final tier. Once you’ve hit the twenty-year mark of active membership, you will become a life member. Life membership has its privileges! There are no dues required among other things.
That’s it for me! Have a great start to your season!