Two more umpires have joined the National Umpire Program, bringing the region’s total number of national umpires to 11.
Isaac Zywczok and Ben Flesher both earned their way into the program following a successful evaluation at the annual Baseball Ontario Cup evaluation weekend. The Ontario Cup is a tournament style evaluation camp to select the team that will represent Ontario at the Baseball Canada Cup. It is also a weekend for Level 3 umpires from across the province to train and learn from some of the country’s top umpires.
Zywczok is a St. Thomas native who has been working hard for the past three seasons in the LDBA.
“It’s been wonderful to see Isaac progress to where he is today after first getting to know him as a high school catcher and learning at the time that he was also a Level 2 umpire who was keen to improve,” said former Minor League and Olympic Umpire, Jim Cressman. “Working with him and seeing him grow into a Level 4 is one of greatest personal rewards I have received during my 53 years on the field.”
Ben Flesher could have followed in his father’s footsteps, but he chose the officiating path. Jeff Flesher is the Manager of the Junior London Tecumsehs, and is also a Learning Facilitator for the Baseball Ontario Coaching Development program.
The junior Flesher is no stranger to the Ontario Cup process, having completed the tournament in 2015 as well.
“Ben’s success at the Ontario Cup is a result of the hard work and dedication that he has put in working with senior umpires in the city,” said LDBA Umpire-in-Chief Rob Companion. “We are very proud of the work all our umpires do here, and this is just another example of the talent that we have in London.”
Zywczok and Flesher join Cressman and Companion, as well as Justin Snively, Rob Stevenson, Steve Cochrane, Bob Blake, Dan Mudry, Eldon Dunseith, and Listowel’s Allyn Ward, in the National Umpire Program, which is comprised of Level 4, 5 and 6 umpires from across Canada.
“We are very proud of our umpires in the LDBA, the dedication to their craft is unbelievable,” said LDBA President Derek Brooks. “On any given night, you can find any one of these umpires working a Bantam or Midget game, which just goes to show you that they don’t think they are too good for kids’ baseball.”
“If they aren’t umpiring, you can almost certainly find one or two of them sitting in the stands at Labatt Park or one of the other fields in the area watching and ready to give tips and feedback to the umpires on the field.”
To quote one famous baseball movie, it’s all For the Love of the Game.
Story submitted by London & District Baseball Association (LDBA)
