Bill Wyatt's performance at the 2011 Pee Wee Western Championships means he is eligible to move up in the umpiring world. Wyatt was selected to be one of nine umpires at the championships held in Nanaimo, BC from Aug. 25 to 29.
In order to be selected for the championship in the first place, umps are required to be a Level 4 umpire and receive a minimum of 86 on their yearly test. At that point, it is up to the supervisor in each of the provinces to make their recommendations.
Wyatt, who was one of the Saskatchewan umpires that met those requirements, made the cut and was informed in early April that he would be umpiring in Nainamo. While Wyatt arrived in BC early to have a couple of days of sight-seeing, as of the day before the tournament, it was straight to work.
"We had a banquet on Wednesday evening, and then had a meeting that followed before getting into the action on Thursday afternoon. Our meeting on Wednesday was to talk about our assignments. There were nine of us there, so we were put into crews of three. We decided who was crew chief too. And then we just went over different rules and ground rules and that sort of stuff."
"It was quite the experience. It was more professional than expected, but it was really great. I did six games all together and was selected for the gold medal game as well. So, I was part of a six-man crew and I did the left field line for that game."
As for Wyatt's favourite part of the experience, "Meeting the guys was probably my favourite. There were a lot of different personalities there, so that was good. I like the evaluation part too because as an umpire, you grow and your confidence builds when you get that type of feedback. Especially when it comes from supervisors who are at a higher level than you are."
"We had three supervisors and they evaluated us every game," said Wyatt. "After every game, they took us aside as a crew and told us where we could improve. Basically, what we did wrong and what we did right. And at the end of the tournament, we had an individual meeting with the supervisor. It was then that they gave you a report card about whether you passed, and whether they recommended you come back to this level of ball."
As for how Wyatt performed at the championship this year? He not only passed, but he has been recommended to move up in the umpiring world. He is now eligible to ump at the Bantam level for nationals. Whether or not he is selected for next year's nationals, he will have to wait and see. Selection is based on the number of Saskatchewan umps available to ump at that level, in addition to the number of umps required for the national tournament.
Wyatt is looking forward to the opportunity to ump at the bantam level. "The Pee Wee championships are just western, so that means that the teams are from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. So, if I moved to Bantam, it would be teams from all over Canada. So that would mean a bigger and better opportunity because you have all of the provinces there."
