Lance Brown heading to World Champs

060515KHLance. UMPIRE: Lance Brown has been appointed to umpire at the World Champs in Canada. PICTURE / KAREN HUGHES

Wanganui has a strong reputation for delivering world-class athletes. More so however is the growing number of sport officials who are making the grade at international level. (Midweek readers may recall a recent feature on Touch Referee Gary Reid, who was selected to referee at the FIT 2015 Touch World Cup). Softball Umpire Lance Brown has been appointed to umpire at the upcoming 14th ISF Men's World Softball Championship in Sasketoon, Canada.
Held over 10 days, the biannual tournament will see 16 countries compete for the World title that New Zealand currently holds. Alongside fellow NZ umpire Mark Porteous (North Harbour) Lance has been appointed to the tournament by the International Softball Board.
Like most officials, Lance started as a player ("Softball is my family game. I grew up with softball"). Arriving in Wanganui in 2001, he met local and international umpire Lindsay Edwards. "Through going to tournaments with Lindsay and sharing his experiences, I learnt quickly that there was longevity in umpiring - I could progress through the umpire grades. It was the progression that motivated me early on. Because there is not a large umpiring pool, especially when you go to higher grades and the number of qualified umpires becomes less, you are able to track though the levels quite quickly and advance to the higher games, and quality tournaments."
Now he's been umpiring for 20 years. Having achieved the highest level, Lance is one of only nine international certified umpires in New Zealand. Clocking up five international trips all for softball, this will be his third to Canada.
Former and current employers have supported his umpiring career. "My previous employer was a sports-oriented person, and my current employer likes to promote a balance of lifestyle so the managers there are very supportive of the time required off."
As an official Lance is impartial, though he can offer thoughts as to how the competition in Canada may go. "The top four teams are New Zealand, Venezuela, Argentina and Australia - that's on placings at the last World Series. New Zealand has a developing team of young kids - talented kids - but young in terms of international level. They don't have the experience that they have had in previous World Series tournaments, so that may be a challenge. Canada is always amongst the play-off rounds, as is Japan. Argentina and Venezuela have come on leaps and bounds in the world rankings in the last eight years so they'll be a force to reckon with."
Lance believes softball is seeing a rise in popularity in the Spanish-speaking countries. "Globally there is an increased interest in the game, especially in the Latin-American countries where numbers are growing, however player participation in New Zealand has dropped."
And for those of us who are a little in the dark about the difference between softball and baseball ... "In softball, the playing dimensions are smaller (the outfield fence and the playing diamond). The pitching action of the pitcher is a windmill underhanded action as opposed to baseball which is an overhanded throw. The diameter of the ball is larger in softball. There are some finely detailed rule differences, but those are the major differences."
At the tournament, the Umpire Chief will allocate the officials their game time, and will give everyone a fair number of appointments, until the playoffs. Lance will have a minimum of two, but a maximum of three games per day. "They are high stress level games, which can last anywhere from an hour and a half, or sometimes even up to three hours."
Just like the players, the umpires are hoping to make finals too. "Your performance will determine your position in the playoff series. Also affecting your position at play-offs will be your country - if your country does well, that will hinder your progress into the play-offs. On the diamond, there will always be neutral officials - you will never umpire your own game. If New Zealand advances to the finals, I certainly won't be on any of their games."
Ultimately the Plate Umpire is where softball officials strive to be. Lance has a modest outlook. "To make a final would be great. To be a Plate Umpire in a championship game would be pretty special, especially for a Southern Hemisphere umpire. Especially a New Zealand one."
The 14th ISF Men's World Softball Championship will take place on June 26 - July 5, with most games streamed live on the internet.