Week 2- Quick to Forget, Quick to Process

First of all, I want to say thank you to those who have read this blog.  This is a really great way for me to reflect and for my family and freinds to stay updated and it is great to know people are interested. 

It has been a few days since I last wrote, so I'll be able to summarize Week 2 (not including Saturday).  I can honelstly say that I am being tested here- especially mentally.  Over the last year since being out of baseball, I seemed to forget how much of a mental battle the sport is and umpiring is no different.  Baseball is a game of failure (I'm sure everyone's heard that before), but it is very true.  In order to be succesful at baseball, in my opinion, one of the strongest skills you can have is the ability to quickly forget but quickly process.  I have been tested with various situations of "failure" during this week- still working on mechanics, positioning, voice, foot movement, etc as an umpire.  Although I have been umpiring for about 8 years, I have yet to have ANY formal training, so this has been a whole new world for me.  There are a few guys who have been to other clinics by Jim Evans, and some were even here last year!  Baseball always has a way of pulling out your weakness- the saying is "You can't hide anyone on a ballfield"- this has been true for me to an extent.  But as I mentioned earlier, one of the best skills you can have is to quickly forget (the bad) and quickly process (how to fix).  By Wednesday of this week, quite a few things started to click. 

I'm feeling confident about where I am today with the underscore that I still have a LONG way to go.  We are just over the 1/3 mark for the school.  I'm now begining to understand what the evaluators are looking for (good attitude and work ethic were the week 1 and 2 criteria and I know I did well in that respect).  At the end of week 2, they are beginning to note footwork, voice, mechanics, etc.  I would consider myself in the candidates to get sent to PBUC at this point. 

Here is the backgroud on how getting into umpiring professional baseball works:  You must go through one of two schools- Jim Evans and "the other one" and make the graduating class (usually around the top 10 %).  Both schools send their graduating class to a 1 week tryout for PBUC (Prfessional Baseball Umpire Committe).  PBUC is the group that assigns all umpires for professional baseball up until AAA.  Then PBUC takes the top of that group and puts them into one of the Rookie Leagues, which are the Arizona League and the Gulf Coast Leage.  Form there, you climb the ranks just like a player does- Rookie to Short A to Long A to AA to AAA to The Major Leagues.   Crazy journey, huh!

The school is going to be getting very competitive in the next week.  "Camp Games" begin late next week, when we will have the chance to umpire with a full team and instructors acting as managers/coaches.  This will be the time when they look at how we handle certain situations, how our judgement is, and how we handle it when a furious coach is yelling in your face!  It has been primiarliy drills and lectures so far, so things will be heating up very soon!   

Jim had a great saying that has seemed to fit well with my experience thus far- "Don't mind failure, but hate mediocrity.  "  Typically when we fail it is because we are out of our compfort zone- things are new.  We are setting new goals and are not exactly sure how to get there- this is growth that challenges us.  When we are challenged, we typically have two ways to look at it- we can feel like we are either being beaten or punished (I call it just trying to get through the day), or see the challenge as an opportunity for improvement, a time of humbling, prayer, and growth.  I have seen challenges in both of these ways.  This lesson seemed to fit very closely with the sermon from today's church service I watched online.  (Pretty cool to have access to a church online- what a blessing and how easy!) 

The message came out of Phillipians 4.  In this section Paul urges us the church of Phillipi "not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving by presenting all your requests to God."  This sounds like such an easy thing to do and sounds like such an easy answer to solve all of our problems, but somehow it seems to slip our minds.  The pastor said that even through prayer, we need to understand that our God of the entire universe makes happen what is necessary.  We need to be able to distinguish our circumstances.  We need to understand that prayer does not always change our immediate circumstances, but it makes us trust our Father that he will transform us in the right way, instead of Him changing things to benifit my circumstances.  Through prayer and thanksgiving, our heart is re-centered on Him with the faith that He knows what is best for us. 

This message seemed to fit very well with the week ahead and competition beginning to increase.  As evaluations become more intense over the next few weeks here, it will be very easy to begin to worry and be anxious.  I am sure I will begin to see it in other students.  I will make it my goal to pray during these times, to know that whatever circumstances come about (good or bad), I will know that I did my best and my heart will be re-centered on Him. 

Week 3 begins tomorrow- time to study!

Thanks