The prerequisites for a good umpire - and the ingredients of a good reputation - are varied. An umpire must be decisive, objective, consistent, and courageous. An umpire must hustleand anticipate what will happen during a play. An umpire must be a disciplinarian, but must also be understanding about players' and coaches' frustrations. An umpire must also, from time to time, listen to players and coaches and, occasionally, teach them a thing or two.
Joe Brinkman, The Umpire's Handbook, 1987
The District Umpire Consultant (DUC) is a position created by Little League International to assist a District Administrator (DA). The DUC is appointed by the DA.
While Little League International has provided the definition of a DUC, this DA has further refined that into the following list of things the the DUC must do:
In addition to those formal requirements, the DUC will also be eligible to be invited by the DA to participate in Discipline or Protest Committees. The DUC will also manage the awarding of District Umpire numbers and maintain the list of District Umpires.
Like all local Little League positions including DA, the DUC is a volunteer position. He/she makes no money for his/her time and troubles, and in fact often gets blamed for things that are out of the DUC's control. For that reason, this DA allows the DUC one "perq" -- provided he/she has the qualifications, the DUC is entitled to schedule himself/herself as the home plate umpire in the final game of a District, Provincial or Canadian tournament held in this District.
We are very fortunate that our current DUC is Ken Allen. He performs all of the above duties at a very high level, and puts in many, many hours. He does this in addition to being the District Webmaster (including designing and programming the SMaLL management system we use for Interlock, Big League, and Districts), which also takes a great deal of time and effort. If you have any comments about the role of the DUC as spelled out above, you should contact the DUC and the DA.
You can find a PDF version of the 2017 Introductory Umpire Clinic material here.
You can find a PDF version of the 2017 Intermediate Umpire Clinic material here.
A DISTRICT UMPIRE is a local league umpire who has reached a level of proficiency and maturity such that they:
UMPIRE NUMBERS are the red digits you see on the sleeves of some umpires in the District. They are granted to an umpire who has proven himself/herself to be of a certain high calibre and who has become a District Umpire as defined above. Both of these things are somewhat subjective. There is no algorithm that says “Do these things and you get your numbers” — under the authority of the DA, umpire numbers shall be granted or awarded to qualified umpires at the discretion of the DUC. Umpires will be asked for several choices of a preferred number, but numbers of active umpires within the District will be unique. The purchase and application of numbers are left to the individual umpire.