Vision In Action Strategies Involving Experienced and Inexperienced Softball Umpires

Abstract

Players, coaches, and fans place their ultimate confidence in that of an umpire’s call accuracy. An umpire needs a specific strategy to call strikes and balls as precisely as possible. This strategy is critical because the umpire has a difficult job that requires fast decision-making. What is this strategy? What separates elite from novice umpires?

Some studies have been performed to compare the vision in action strategies of elite and novice athletes in various sports such as ice hockey and Olympic speed skating. These studies were conducted using the ASL Mobile Eye Tracker. Few studies have been completed involving the strategy of softball umpires.

Information regarding the strategy of an umpire would greatly benefit softball. More precise training techniques for novice umpires could be identified. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare the visual strategies of novice and elite softball umpires to determine if a vision in action strategy exists for accurately calling pitches. The hypothesis of this study predicts that the strategy of elite and novice umpires are significantly different.