2026 Youth Umpire Program

Eligibility

Must be a 7th–12th grade student who lives in Summit and is also one of the following:

• previous SSBL Youth Umpire
• SSBL Baseball Rec program 7th–9th grade player, currently rostered
• High school student with several seasons of SSBL Baseball Rec program 7th–9th grade experience
• current or past participant in Summit High School Baseball program
• another high school baseball program's current or past player

Requirements: Training and Shadowing

Eligible student baseball players must complete the following requirements. Once completed, they may work a current season as an umpire or future seasons as returning umpires in our program until high school graduation.

• Read the SSBL Baseball Rec 3rd & 4th Grade League Rule Book to get familiar with the rules. We just ask for basic knowledge of these rules. Memorization is not required. Do note that there are some differences of rules between 3rd and 4th grade.
• Attend mandatory training, which we provide.
• Shadow one SSBL baseball recreational game (3rd or 4th grade) for whole game.
• NOTE: There are different ground rules at each field.

Payments

• Umpires will be paid after the end of the season for all games they individually worked.

Program Goals

• Have student players gain valuable skills as umpires, while getting paid.

We provide training in the spring, usually in mid-March to late March.

New TRAINING for 2026: We will have two youth umpire training clinics, one of which will be on the field.

If your child is interested in working as an umpire, we ask that they attend the training, which is mandatory for the 2026 season. Even if your child has umpired in the past and attended previous trainings, we still encourage them to attend training as a refresher in order to be comfortable on the field throughout the season.

These personal supplies usually get distributed at training or before the season begins. More details will be shared soon.

• Umpire t-shirt
• Base Brush
• Pitch counter

For returning umpires, we ask that they check if they still have supplies from previous seasons.

Some shared supplies are usually in the green boxes at Jefferson. These include:

• Shin Guards
• Face Masks
• Chest Protectors

Season

• The season runs from April to early June (end of school year).

Providing Availability For Games

• A form will be sent every two weeks with the game schedule. It will request the availability of youth umpires for those games.
• We ask youth umpires and their parents to be mindful of their schedules for school and other activities. It will help to have clear availability for dates scheduled for umpire work.
• PROVIDING AN UMPIRE'S AVAILABILITY HELPS US SCHEDULE ASSIGNMENTS.

Assignments

Preparing & Arriving

Umpires should arrive 20 minutes before a game. Be prepared with your:

• umpire shirt
• base brush
• counter

Shared Supplies

Ask the coaches about shared supplies such as:

• Shin Guards
• Face Masks
• Chest Protectors

Locations

• Fields
  • Lincoln
  • Long
    • Has no lights
  • Jefferson
• Different ground rules at fields

On the Field

• No phones.
• Two Umpire(s)
  • Umpire with most experience: covers home plate
  • Other umpire: covers 1st, 2nd, 3rd bases
  • Shadow Umpire(s): Shadow umpires must stay with the field umpire. They will get a chance to be on their own in a future game, but not during their first shadow game. Shadow umpire: Shadow the field umpire for the whole game. This should be wherever they are on 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, but not home plate. They should not try to make calls themselves or cover another base.
• Playoffs: based on performance- we use a "carded umpire", meaning an older professional umpire behind the plate for playoffs. 
• Youth umpires have the final call. If parents give the umpires an issue, then coaches need to speak with parents. If a coach has a problem, then the youth umpire should speak with the other coach.
• Time keeping
  • Umpires may keep time to keep game moving
  • They can make the call about not starting another inning towards the end of a game, if it gets too dark
• If umpires have questions, they may contact
  • Text Lew for help when needed.