Woodinville Little League Umpire Guidelines

League Objective: 

To develop a sustainable pool of trained volunteer umpires to meet the umpiring needs of the league during the regular season as well as the commitments for participation in post-season tournaments.

Umpires are usually parents of players on league teams, but may also be teenage siblings or another relative, or people that simply like to umpire and donate their time to their community. 

AA/AAA: 

Umpire development will begin at the AA and AAA level, where each team will be expected to provide at least one team umpire to the umpire pool for their level.  The team umpires will officiate games in which their child’s team is playing - usually one game per week. 

The home plate umpire will be a parent from the Visitor team, while the field umpire will be a parent from the Home team.  These roles may be adjusted if necessary based on availability or umpire experience.

The AA and AAA the umpire pool is self-managed by the team Managers and the team Umpires to ensure umpire coverage for each game.

AA and AAA parent umpires may wish to gain additional experience by making themselves available to the Minors and Majors umpire pools through the league UIC (Umpire-In-Chief).

Minors/Majors: 

At the Minors and Majors level, each team will be expected to have at least two umpires in the umpire pool.  The league would like to have at two or more umpires officiating each game. At the Majors level, the home plate umpire should not be associated to either team involved in the game.  At the Minors level, the home plate umpire may be associated to a team.  The field umpires may be associated to the team at both levels.

Each Majors umpire is expected to work at least one game each week behind the plate in a game not involving their child’s team.  Team umpires will work with each other to fill the field umpire positions for each game. If the umpire pool is deep enough, non-team umpires may also be scheduled to work in the field to gain experience.

For make-up games scheduled with less than a week of notice, responsibility falls to the team Managers, possibly with help from the UIC, to coordinate a home plate umpire.  Team umpires may be used at home plate for make-up games, or for any situation where an independent umpire is not available.

At Minors and Majors, the umpire pool is managed by the league UIC (Umpire-In-Chief).

Minors and Majors Umpire Scheduling: 

Umpire scheduling will be managed on-line at the District 8 Umpires website.  Managers should verify coverage for their games on the website.  The league UIC will manage the umpire schedule to ensure game coverage. 

Team Manager Expectations with Respect to Umpires: 

The UIC will solicit for umpires at the pre-season Manager Meeting and at Player Review.  Once teams are formed, the team Managers must with the the UIC to identify volunteer umpire candidates from their team..  The Manager will solicit for additional umpire volunteers at pre-season parent meetings if necessary to help establish an adequate umpire pool. 

Spectator Policy with regard to Umpires: 

Watch the game and encourage your children!  Let the umpires do their job.  Remember that all Little League umpires are unpaid volunteers – usually parents of players in the league. Woodinville Little League will not tolerate inappropriate behavior toward an umpire by a player, manager, coach, or spectator.  Any violation of this policy will be reported to the League President and to the Umpire-In-Chief and will result in follow-up action to be determined.