Fellow Officials,
Lots to go over this morning, so let’s dispense with the pleasantries and get right to it, shall we…
I am pleased to announce that John Blaeuer and Russell Scott have agreed to head up the Shepherd Program in Northern Virginia. Once we have a Maryland person lined up, we will let you know.
I thought Gary did a great job on the piece about Paul Porto. I don’t want to pile on, but I will say Gary barely scratched the surface on the broad range of things that Paul does for us.
Let’s talk about the schedule…due to the snow, we have canceled the in-person meetings. We will have one ZOOM call on Monday, February 2nd at 7pm. We will send the link out soon. If we decide to have an in-person meeting later this year, we will let you know. We will also let you know as soon as we develop a plan for getting rule books to you.
As you know, in Maryland the test dates are February 12th through March 17th and the clinic opens on February 5th. The Maryland clinic usually closes the same day as the test. The VHSL test is open right now; as soon as we learn about the clinic in Virginia, we will let you know. As always, I strongly urge you to not wait until the last minute.
Bob Nasser and his team will have an exam prep presentation at the March association meeting. I hope you enjoyed the quiz that came out. Speaking of association meetings, the schedule for our association meetings is now final, as is the date for the banquet. These meetings are ALL via Zoom and ALL start at 7pm. Here is that schedule:
- Sunday, March 1st – (exam prep)
- Sunday, April 12th
- Sunday, May 3rd – (prep for 3-man HS playoffs)
- Sunday, September 27th (presentation of 2027 board candidates)
- Sunday, October 25th (final meeting of the year)
On Tuesday, July 14th we will have an umpires night out at Capital One Park in Tysons Corner. More details to come.
Additionally, we have set the date for the annual banquet. This year we are going before Thanksgiving. The banquet will be Saturday, November 21st. Again, details to follow.
Next, I’d like to talk to you about an issue that hit us hard last year; The possibility that our association is somehow a labor union. If this issue matters to you, please take a look at this article, it’s dated several years ago.
Finally, we are working on a place to put photos and short videos to play at the banquet. As the season unfolds, and you start working games, please try and take pictures of your fellow umpires and crews. Complexes like Patriot Park or fields where there are lots of games provide you with an opportunity to grab a snapshot of our umpires on the field or in the parking lots before and after games. I’ll have details for you on submitting your pics and videos as soon as I have them myself.
That’s it for me, enjoy the rest of the Blue Crew News and I hope to see you at the park!
Dave
