Regional Umpire Course in Parsippany, NJ

Feb. 21, 2012, 4:17 p.m. (ET)


 Regional Umpire Course Information
Date & Time: Friday, March 23, 7:00pm-9:30pm
Venue: Parsippany PAL (Police Athletic League)

There will be a clinic for anyone interested in becoming a certified USAB umpire. The fee for the course is $25 and covers the cost of materials and instructor's time. Depending on the number of people interested in taking the clinic we may need to rent a meeting room which might require an additional fee of $10 per person to cover that cost. The clinic is being held the evening before the start of the Mid Atlantic Classic tournament and you will have the opportunity to take your learning and put it to use right away so that you could become fully certified by USA Badminton by the end of the weekend!

Why become an umpire?

There are many good reasons to consider this:
1. You get the best seat in the house for the best badminton matches!
2. You love this sport and you really want to help make more good badminton happen in your area.
3. You will really learn all the rules in detail and understand why (for example) your 'perfect' winning serve gets faulted whenever there's an umpire on court!
4. You will learn what umpires can and cannot do; when and how to ask for an umpire if you have a problem on the court; what to do if you disagree with an umpire's ruling; etc
5. You are a parent and your child needs you to travel for tournaments and then you are stuck in a gym and you are driving each other crazy!
6. Umpires are totally cool (well, we like to think so) ;-D

There are others, too, but these are excellent ones to start!

The clinic is being conducted by National Level 3 Umpire Beth Sopka who has been umpiring for over 10 years throughout the United States and internationally as well. If you wish to participate in this course, please email Beth Sopka at or