Girls Fast-Pitch Softball & Boys / Mens Baseball Officiating & Umpire Training

Sanctioning (Umpire Registration)

Sanctioning is Critically Important, for any number of reasons. But the Two Real Key Factors are:

• First and Foremost -- When you SANCTION with a recognized National Organization (NSA, BPA, ASA, PONY, LITTLE LEAGUE, IHSA / NFHS, NCAA, etc.), for the Annual Fee that you pay to that organization, you receive their Rule Book! Every organization’s rules are slightly different. And to be a good official you absolutely Have to Know the Specifics of the rules by which the games you’re planning to officiate are being run.
• Second -- most of the time, the Sanction Fee you pay provides insurance coverage both for General Liability AND Supplemental Medical Insurance. How important is that? Here are two examples that hopefully will drive the point home.
• Recently, one official was on his way to officiate a full schedule of games for a weekend tournament. This official’s vehicle was hit by a driver who (likely) had fallen asleep at the wheel. The official wasn’t seriously injured, and had to undergo months of physical therapy. Further, the official’s Sanction Insurance kicked in to supplement his own insurance company’s coverage because, while the driver at fault did have insurance coverage, that individual’s insurance company never paid on the claim. That matter is pending court action.
• Also (fortunately not under our auspices), an umpire was found partially at fault in a multi-million dollar lawsuit, when an incident occurred on the field he was working, where a non-playing youth sustained life-long injuries on his field. The sanctioning body who ran that tournament handled  a good portion of the legal end of things for the on-field official... whose liability would have been solely his own, had he not been working a sanctioned event.
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To Sanction for Illinois NSA Girls Fast-Pitch Softball and/or Illinois BPA Baseball  Tournaments, under
Barry Parks, BPA / Illinois State UIC, and NSA / Illinois Chicagoland South Area UIC, please follow this procedure:

• Use either of these direct links to go to the PlayNSA Website or PlayBPA Website Umpire Registration Page.  There you’ll have Two Options:
• If you DO know / remember your 2011 Sanction Number (unfortunately, I do not have that on file), you can use the RENEWAL feature on that page. Once you’ve entered the two requested fields, this will pull up everything that in on-file in the home office’s database; simply confirm or update the info, and click SUMBIT... and you’ll be good to go, once you pay your Sanction Fee.
• If you DON’T, or if you are a NEW Umpire (New to NSA-BPA, that is) seeking to work NSA and/or BPA Tournaments, you’ll simply have to use the conventional form that has always been available. It’s still very simple, short and direct. It will take you al of about 90 seconds.
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Other Sanctions, for you to handle directly --

• If intending to sanction PONY Baseball / Softball, do what I do: go to the PONY Baseball / Softball UMPIRE REGISTRATION section of their website  (click the PONY logo to be directed to that page). There you can register online, with or without PONY insurance, And the PONY site allows
  you to register using a credit card, so the whole process is self-contained.
  . . . Most importantly for PONY, since most of the local leagues in our area
  play under rules that are consistent with PONY. When you sanction, PONY, you receive...
• A PONY Official Umpire Patch
• A PONY Official Umpire Membership Card
• PONY Boys Baseball Official Rules -- You Need This to Know
  the Proper Rules Under Which Theses Games Run!
• PONY Girls Fast-Pitch Softball Official Rules -- and this one is
  a good guide for learning the rules of Girls Fast-pitch Softball!
• Official Rules of Major League Baseball -- PONY Rules DEFER to
  Major league Rules. in other words, if something’s NOT covered
  in the PONY Rule Book, then you go to MLB Official Rules.

All this for a whopping $20.00 (current rate); and for $25 more, you can be covered all year
under PONY Supplemental Insurance, for All Sporting Event coverage... not just baseball
or softball.  WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE EVERY BASEBALL / SOFTBALL UMPIRE WORKING
REC./LOCAL LEAGUES TO SANCTION PONY, and to Secure Their Insurance Coverage.
As for the Critical Reasons Why, GO HERE!
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• If intending to sanction ASA Softball, your contact is Steve Verive, ASA Chicago Metro UIC; sua110@hotmail.com.  The registration website is -- www.chicagometroasa.com  Steve annually has several slots available for umpires to work the ASA Nationals.  If interested,  please  get back to me ASAP!... so that I can work with him
  to determine who might best represent Chicago metro.
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• If you have an interest in working any USSSA area GFP Softball events, please contact
  Willis Miles, Area UIC / Scheduler for several tournaments, @ 773-206-3679; or e-mail him at --
  basiy2k@yahoo.com
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