South Okanagan Minor Baseball's officiating is overseen by our Umpire in Chief, Mr. Lorne Raymond.

We use only BC Baseball Umpires Association (BCBUA) members for our officiating. Membership in their association provides ongoing training, insurance, mentorship and many more benefits.

We play by the rules set out by BC Minor Baseball. A copy of the rules can be found on their website.

SOMBA is pleased to participate in the British Columbia Baseball Umpires’ Association (BCBUA) mentorship program. The program is designed “to build and develop competency in our umpires, by providing credible and consistent feedback that supports BCBUA/Baseball BC rules, mechanics and philosophies.” The goal is to provide a practical mechanism for supporting young umpires in their development beyond what they learned at the annual clinic.

In practice, more experienced umpires will be paired with younger, developing umpires at an appropriate level of play and will provide on-field guidance during the games as well as subsequent verbal and written feedback. The focus is to be on positive and practical direction, comments and support that will promote the ongoing development of our young officials. While the pool of senior umpires is limited, it is hoped that every young umpire will be given the opportunity to work with a mentor on at least a couple of occasions during the spring season.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Lorne Raymond at mlr1@telus.net or 250-488-5125.

For 2024 there will be two types of Clinics. Online and On-Field. Online Clinics will be registered for through the BCBUA Website. To sign up/take the clinic you must become a BCBUA member. To do this go to the BC Baseball Umpires Association at https://bcbua.ca/  and become a member of BCBUA. There is a fee for membership which covers the cost of all clinics. SOMBA will reimbursed your membership fee after you umpire 5 games per season.  We're pleased to confirm that the BCBUA online clinics are now available for registration.  To access registration instructions, please log in and go to this page:  https://bcbua.ca/online-clinic-instructions 

Online Clinic dates are as follows:

• Sunday, February 4 @ 9AM
• Monday February 19 @ 5:30PM
• Thursday February 29 @ 5:30PM
• Thursday March 7 @ 5:30PM
• Wednesday March 27 @ 5:30PM
• Saturday March 30 @ 9AM
• Monday April 8 @ 5:30PM

New and first year umpires must take the Level 1 On-line Clinic. 

Returning Umpires must take the Level 2 On-Line Clinic. This is done each year until the UIC approves Level 3.

All Umpires must attend an in-person on field mechanics clinic.  

SOMBA ON-FIELD CLINIC
DATE:  April 3, 2024, 

Time: 5 PM to 8PM

Location : Adidas Sportplex  550 Eckhardt Ave W, Penticton

Registration is through the BCBUA side Clinic page. https://bcbua.ca/?pg=clinics

Clinics are listed alphabetically. Ours is listed under S for SOMBA. Registration for this Clinic is also covered by the annual BCBUA membership.

• Ensure that you are registered as an umpire for 2023 with BCBUA on bcbua.ca. You are required to pay for your annual membership through the PayPal website. You can pay with PayPal or with a credit card or a debit card.

• Go to bcbuaeducationportal.net and create a login profile and register for your choice of Level 1 or Level 2 clinic on the date that best fits your schedule

  • Level 1 clinics are for those that are new to umpiring and those that will be umpiring at the 11U and 9U divisions (60’ diamonds with no leadoffs).

  • Level 2 clinics are for umpires that will be umpiring at the 13U and higher divisions. There are leadoffs and balks at these levels. Minimum age for level 2 is 14 years old. (BC Minor rules state that an umpire must be 1 division removed from the division they are umpiring i.e. must be 15U-aged to umpire at 13U division)

• On bcbuaeducationportal.net browse the Resources tab and view the Mechanics section for Core Skills and Minute Mechanics section for Umpire Procedures.

• Download the appropriate Student Workbook.

Prior to your scheduled online clinic …

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  • Ensure your computer’s Internet speed is compatible. Use a program such as speedtest.net for testing. Minimum speed is 10 mbds.

  • Ensure that you are using a computer or tablet (sorry, no smartphones) with Google Chrome; Edge; or Firefox as a browser … Apple Safari in not compatible with our education portal platform

  • View the videos that are the pre-modules for your selected level.

  • Level 2 umpires … complete the refresher quiz at the beginning of your workbook.

On the day of your clinic

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  • Get comfortable and be in a place that allows you to focus on the online material over a 3-hour period. Have water and snacks close by.

  • Log into bcbuaeducationportal.net at least 5 minutes prior to your session. Navigate to the Live Session area and wait for you session to start. Level 1 and Level 2 students will go through the same introduction and then will split off to their specific training areas.

  • There is the ability to type a question to the instructor through the training and there are 2 times during the clinic that an instructor comes into the session to provide feedback on interactive knowledge check questions

You will be required to access the appropriate level exam and complete (and pass) the exam. For level 1, you will take the exam during your session and then have the opportunity to view a live answer period at the end of the clinic. For level 2, you will go to bcbua.ca and access your exam when convenient, and you will have multiple opportunities to get a passing mark on the exam if needed.