With baseball season underway, it’s important that each game is officiated fairly, no matter the level.

The next generation of umpires met up on Sunday at the Duluth Heritage Center.

Chad Clore, a local umpire, went to umpire school to pursue his passion for it. Nearly thirty years later, Clore is giving back to the community.

“I went to professional umpiring school in 1995 and I’ve done baseball over the past 30 years, everything from Division I conference tournaments in college to U9 hardball tournaments in Lake Park.”

Clore walked the future umpires through each and every aspect of becoming an umpire.

“Umpire hats have three different length bills, you can get a normal one which is like what you guys are wearing, that’s called a base hat.”

For the next generation, their reasons varied for learning about the game that goes on behind the game.

“I’ve always wanted to ump,” said Ryland, a local baseball player and participant in the clinic. “I want to umpire little kids because some of my friends have younger brothers, and I just like spending time with them, and I just love baseball.”

“I just want to get a summer job just because last summer was really boring, I just kind of sat around the house and played outside, and I feel like I should get a job and make some money,” said Henry, another youth baseball player who attended Sundays clinic. “I love baseball, and I just always thought I could be a better umpire than the umps that were calling my games, so I just want to be better.”

The umpire clinic was a two parter, with the first part for younger, first time umpires who are planning on being a one ump crew – the second for those in two ump crews.

The two groups of trained to be umpires for local games, as the younger group will take on some of the younger and easier games to officiate, while the second group will take on games with older age groups.