The Youth Umpire Program provides 7th–12th baseball players opportunities to do paid work as umpires for 3rd & 4th grade baseball games.

Eligibility

7th–12th grade student baseball players who live in Summit and also are one of the following:

• current participants in the SSBL Baseball Rec program 7–9 grade (not relevant in 2026)
• current high school student with several seasons of SSBL Baseball Rec program 7–9 grade experience
• current or past participation in Summit High School Baseball program
• current or past participation in another high school baseball program
• previous umpires

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.

• Attend mandatory training, which we provide.
• 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; we don't require memorization. Do note that there are some differences of rules for between 3rd and 4th grade.
• Shadow one SSBL baseball recreational game (3rd or 4th grade) for whole game.
• NOTE: There are different ground rules at each field.

Equipment

These personal supplies usually get distributed at training or before the season begins.

• Umpire t-shirt
• Base Brush
• Pitch counter

There are some shared supplies in the green boxes at Jefferson.

Spring Season & Scheduling

• Games: Run from April to early June (end of school year).
• We will be in touch about specific schedules.
• We ask youth umpires and their parents to be mindful of their schedules for school and other activities, so as to be sure to have clear availability on dates committed to working as umpires.

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 as it 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.

All new umpires will be provided supplies. T-shirt sizes must be given.

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

Supply distribution information will be shared soon.

We will send out a form every two weeks with game schedule.

• Umpires should arrive 20 minutes before a game
• Be prepared with your
  • umpire shirt
  • base brush
  • counter
• Ask the coaches about shared supplies such as:
  • Shin Guards
  • Face Masks
  • Chest Protectors
• Locations
  • Different ground rules at fields
  • Fields
    • Lincoln
    • Long
      • Has no lights
    • Jefferson
• 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
  • Pat, who will contact Lew for help when needed.