s President and Chairman of the Board for the Baseball Umpires of Northwest Arkansas, Inc., I set out a number of goals for our organization for 2005. One of those goals was to increase the training level and opportunities for our members. Kevin Causey, AAA umpire and member of our organization, recommended the Southern and International Camps in Atlanta, GA. I did a little research and talked to some other umpires who had attended those camps. I decided that I wanted to make the trek to the Southern Camp in February 2005. But first, I needed to round up some other umpires to go along.

Preparation

With the incentive that you receive a $100 discount, per person, if you have 10 or more umpires register, I had about one-third of our membership express an interest in going. When it came time to pony up the cash, I had eleven who actually did.

Continued...