OVERVIEW

A league can manage its umpire assignments very effectively using the MySoftballLeague.com method of specifying the strength of an umpire. This is particularly true of large leagues that have many umpires.

The basic concept is that each game has a Difficulty Rating assigned to it based on the play characteristics of the division (gender, age group, and play level) or, if the division has not set the respective play characteristic, the characteristic of the home team or away team. Umpires, on the other hand, have a Strength Rating, based on the same system, that is assigned either by the umpire or the umpire coordinator. As long as an umpire’s Strength Rating is equal to or greater than the Difficulty Rating of the game, then the umpire is considered to be within the comfort zone (see diagram below).


An Umpire can specify his or her comfort level in terms the play characteristics. This will generate a Strength Rating that is visible to the umpire coordinator who can use this information when assigning the umpire to a game.

The umpire coordinator can also set the strength of an individual umpire in the same manner. The league's Strength Rating overrides the umpire’s own Strength Rating when offering or making assignments.

An Umpire can only self-assign or request a game (see Umpire Request/Confirm &Self-Assignment) that is within his or her comfort level. Note that the system by default looks at any information entered by the umpire coordinator, and if information has not been supplied, then looks at the information supplied by the umpire. If neither has enteed information, the umpire will be assumed to be suitable for all games and positions.

HOW IT WORKS

The umpire Strength Rating system, and the Difficulty Rating system, are associated with the league Play Characteristics. The type of play characteristics that are available for the league to use are Gender, Age Group, and Play Level. There are default settings for the relative difficulties for the characteristics in each group. For example, for Age Groups the difficulty is essentially the age (e.g., "U-9 "has a rating of 9 and "U-10" a rating of 10). For Gender, "Girls" has a relative difficulty rating of 0 and "Boys" a rating of +3. For Play Levels "Rec" has a rating of 0 and "Comp" a rating of +3.

So a division that is classified as U-12 Boys Rec will have a difficulty rating of 12 + 3 + 0 = 15.

An Umpire that selects U-12 Boys Rec as his or her comfort level will also have a Strength Rating of 15. Any game on the schedule that has a Difficulty Rating of 15 or less will be available to this umpire to self-assign or request.

There is also a possible adjustment to the Difficulty Rating based on the umpire position in a game. The league can set "Difficulty Offsets" for 1st base ump or 3rd base ump positions relative to the home umpire position, if desired. This is done by the League Administrator by going to: Manage League > Modify League Umpire Settings or by the Umpire Coordinator by going to League Umpire Settings .

An Umpire coordinator assigning an umpire will see a Relative Strength Rating next to the umpire. A positive number indicates the umpire is within the comfort zone. A negative number indicates the umpire is beyond the comfort zone. Of course, the umpire coordinator can assign the umpire regardless of the Relative Strength Rating.

For an umpire with a Strength Rating of 12 being assigned to a game with Difficulty Rating 10, the Relative Strength Rating is +2. If the game has a Difficulty Rating of 15, then the Relative Strength Rating is –3.

If the league has chosen which play characteristics it uses, a League Administrator can modify the relative difficulty settings for each play characteristic as desired. This is done by going to: Manage League > Edit League Play Characteristics. On that page, the Admin can specify which characteristics the league wants to use and, for each selected characteristic, change the default relative difficulty as desired.