This year’s Softball BC Official of the Year, AARON POULIN, began umpiring more than 20 years ago in Victoria, BC. Over the course of those first couple of summers he would often ride a moped to the ball park with his equipment bag strapped to his back. That alone could have resulted in a nomination for this award.
Now twenty years later and with much shorter hair, save for a brief flirtation this spring with ringlets of curls, Aaron, who achieved his Level 5 and ISF Certification in 1998 in St. Croix, Nova Scotia, has completed a year that is certainly worthy of recognition.
The year began in cold temperatures with his presentation at the Blue Convention in Regina, Saskatchewan entitled, “What You Can Do to Improve Your Umpiring” followed by acting as the lead instructor at two Level 3 umpire clinics in Abbotsford and Kelowna.
The beginning of May brought twice weekly travels from his home in Hope, BC into Chilliwack, Agassiz or Abbotsford to umpire in the Fraser Valley Men’s League. That was followed by trips to Kelowna and Sicamous for other various tournaments.
June included more league games and a Cloverdale tournament followed by July’s adventures at the Senior Men’s Provincial at Softball City. He was also the Umpire in Chief for the Sr. and Jr. Women’s Provincials in Richmond, BC. It was then back to Saskatoon to act as the Umpire in Chief of the Junior Women’s Canadian Championship.
After being home for only 3 days, he returned to Sicamous to umpire in the Sr. C and D Men’s Provincials as part of his preparations to umpire at the 2010 Sr. Men’s Canadian Championship in Summerside, PEI at the end of August.
All told this has resulted in more than 50 nights away from his family, thousands of kilometers in the car and countless hours in uncomfortable airline seats. Whether at league games, supervising at the Canadian Championship or an umpire at the Sr. Men’s Canadian Championship, Aaron exudes professionalism and demonstrates the dedication that is required to become and remain an elite fastball umpire.
Never without time to talk with any umpire about how to improve their game, Aaron through his efforts on and off the field this year is a shining example of our successful BC umpiring program and truly deserves this recognition as the 2010 Softball BC Official of the Year.
Bob Henning
Softball BC UIC
brotherinblue (at) shaw.ca