Booking Agents...EASY NOW....

.....I like to think I know everything but this is one that puts me in my ignorant place.

Will someone please explain to me and TBR what "booking agents" are as it applies to HS softball umpires?

Who pays them?
Are they needed, who needs a middle man, no slander?

NO BS here folks and don't goend up with criticism, just lay down the skinny on this gig with a little respect for all concerned, like it or not.
Thanks

Fishbuddy

 

Hey Fish,

The schools pay for the booking agents. I think the booking fee per school per season varies, not sure. They serve a good purpose. They assemble their Associations, train and conduct the umpires' clinics, give Coaches someone to talk to whenever the coach wants or needs an interpetation. They take each school who uses their association and create a master schedule for booking umps for the games. That takes a lot of work off of the ADs. The booking agents call their umps to cover reschedules, sometimes on very short notice. I couldn't even imagine the chaos that would be created if the schools didn't have a central person to contact or if they attempted to book umps and refs 'on their own'. Schools are free to decide which booking agent they want to use for each sport, but, NCHSAA mandates that a booking agent must be used. Far as I'm concerned, they are worth every penny they are paid.

 

jester is 100% correct. The position holds tremendous responsibilities and shifts problems and concerns off of administrator's shoulders. It's not perfect because the quality of umps are just like coaches. Some of them are great, some of them are average, while others have no business umpiring. Plus they have competition with colleges retaining their good umpires.

Although it's a "headache" job, they are well compensated. That same Agent is responsible for fielding a crew for every HS sport offered. In a city like Raleigh or Charlotte, that's a lot of games to cover.

 

Booking agents serve as the liasion between the schools and the officials pool. If it were up to the school to book their own officials then there would be alot of shady things going on with favoritism and bias officiating. What would be the incentive for a school not to book Joe Schmo umpire who lives in the town and is friends with the coaches.

Booking agents can be for multiple sports or one sports. I know for a fact in my area (Northwestern Mountains) my booking agent for basketball is not the same as my booking agent for football. They oversee the assigning of officials to games, the training and the oversight of that areas officials.

 

There still is some home cooking that goes on in the playoffs. The best is when you take a pitcher that has never been called for an illegal pitch, and then all of a sudden, everything is illegal. It's happened plenty of times in high school and college. Strike zones can be shaped depending on which team is pitching too. It's sad, but it happens, and sometimes you know it's going to happen depending on where you are going.

 

The Association our school uses did a very good job this year. There were a few minor problems, but I think everyone needs to remember, just like with coaches, it's easy to rip the ones 'we' don't feel like do a good job. The assoc have the members they have. I'm sure they wish they could pick and chose who joins and how much experience they have. If they have 50 umps and 25 games to cover on a certain day, they don't have many options. Now, I'm not so silly that I think every assoc works as hard as they should. Some umps definately need more training, but the truth is, the BA has to cover all the games. There are 2 groups that , without, there wouldn't be any games, Coaches and Umps. I have worn both shirts. I have enjoyed both shirts. If anyone has the time or desire, I hope they would chose to do one or the other if the opportunity presents itself. I know the assoc would love to have a large pool to draw from. It would put pressure on the umps to get 'good enough' to get games. The pay isn't all that bad, $52.00 for a single game, $75.00 for a DH, especially if you're doing because you love it.