EMBUA Preseason Newsletter
January 2025
Dear EMBUA member,
The EMBUA Executive Board has been meeting to set up the upcoming 2025 season. The meeting schedule for the 2025 season, among other important decisions that have been made, are included in this Newsletter.
There have been several changes and additions for the upcoming season, so please review the information in this notice and the updated information at EMBUA.org carefully.
MEETINGS
Our investment last year of a new laptop worked well in providing more content at meeting and in 2025 it is our hope that we can enhance this and provide more training and have better examples to explain in game situations.
The dates for the season’s meetings are listed below. All General Membership Meetings are held at the Malden Irish-American Club. In order to accommodate requests about earlier meeting times and the difficulty about meeting once the high school season begins, we have changed the days and starting times of some meetings to accommodate members’ needs.
The Executive Board set the attendance requirement to be four (4) out of five (7 ) meetings with the business/banquet counting for 2025.
The meeting schedule and starting times are listed below:
It is our hope that members will attend all 7 meetings, but to better focus on all levels of baseball we have set it up to focus on certain levels of baseball. For example if you work only high school, you should plan to make it to meeting on week 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7. For those that do not work high school, you can attend meetings 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7. For those that work all levels all the meetings should have information and content that will benefit you in the upcoming baseball season.
DUES
The annual dues for the 2025 season will be $80.00,
In order to avoid long lines and to speed up the dues paying process, you are encouraged to mail your dues to:
EMBUA Treasurer c/o David Treska
35 Valley Road
Dracut, MA 01826.
Dues must be paid by the third General Membership Meeting on March 10th 2025. Members wishing to participate in the Annual Business and attend the Awards Banquet must have their dues paid.
Note: We are working on a new paypal or using venmo, but for now do not make any payments to any paypal accounts that you have used previously.
EMBUA Website Update
Please go to the Association website and check that all your contact information is correct. Make any necessary corrections and be sure to save the corrections, especially your email address and telephone number. If you experience any problems logging in with correcting any information, please contact Secretary David Treska for assistance.
EMBUA SCHOLARSHIPS
There will be two (2) Harland “Sonny” Robins Scholarships of five hundred ($500) dollars each; one to a son and one to a daughter of a member in good standing and/or members who are in good standing and who has been accepted to, or are currently enrolled and working toward an undergraduate degree. Application forms are available on the EMBUA website (www.embua.org). If you feel your son or daughter qualifies (graduating from High School through junior year in college) please fill out the application on the website and return to Don Dabenigno at a meeting. The scholarship recipients will be selected at the Annual Business Meeting on March 18th 2025.
Applications must be received by March 10th, 2024 – no exceptions!
HIGH SCHOOL COMMISSOINERS
Most, if not all, commissioners require a yearly Arbiter Sports fee. It’s a minimum fee. Check with your commissioner(s) about their Arbiter Sports fee and let them know about your availability. BLOCK all specific days between March 25, 2025, and July 3, 2025, that you are NOT available. The Commissioners cannot assign you to work a high school game if you have not completed your MIAA registration requirements; see below.
MIAA REGISTRATION/NHSF CONCUSSION TEST
All members planning on umpiring high school games (varsity, JV or freshman) are required to register with the MIAA and the MIAA requires all game officials to complete the NHSF Concussion Test prior to the season. You can access the MIAA registration information and the Concussion Test login address by going to the members section on the Association website and going to the MIAA registration tab.
NEW UMPIRE CLINIC
We need all members’ help with identifying prospective new members. If you know anyone who is interested in becoming an umpire, please direct them to the information on our website; embua.org.
As a reminder from our new program that started last year, if you refer people that register for the class, we will refund your dues as an incentive in helping grow the attendees and our membership.
Classes will begin Sunday, February 16th 2025 and should run for about 6 to 7 weeks ending in March.
If you have any questions about the candidates’ clinic, please contact Interpreter Tom Clews at 617-666-0629; tjclews@hotmail.com
PRE-SEASON TEST
The pre-season test will be distributed shortly and completely it is a requirement of all members prior to the season. The exam will be reviewed at a General Membership Meeting ( date of meeting TBA ).
RETIRED MEMBERSHIP STATUS
The retired status is a membership status is for any member who has retired from actively umpiring ALL games, high school and summer ball, and is a member in good standing. This membership will afford the member all the rights and privileges of an active membership designation. If you would like to be listed as a retired member, please contact David Treska.
UMPIRING EQUIPMENT
John Ventura has retired but we were able to get inventory of some shirts, caps, pants and jackets he had. If you are interested in any of these, we will have them for sale at the meetings of membership.
You also can purchase MBUA caps and shirts at Gerry Davis Sports, here is a link to our association section on their site:
We should be getting new patches for 2025, and will have them for sale also. There is grace period that allows members to use the patch from previous seasons, but if you would like the new ones I will have them at the meetings.
ANNUAL BANQUET
The Annual Banquet will be held on Tuesday March 18th 2025 at the Irish American starting after the completion of the business meeting. The event is covered by your dues and does count as a meeting towards your attendance for 2025. Please let me know if you will be in attendance, as we have to provide a headcount a couple of weeks prior to this date. When you check in for attendance for meetings on week 1 and 2 please let me know if you will be attending. Or please email at treska@comcast.net to let us know you are attending.
Other responsibilities to take care of:
1) REGISTER WITH THE MIAA
All officials must register annually with the MIAA and pay the $10 per sport. Returning officials must confirm pre-populated information and complete all steps of the registration process. You do this by signing into your personal online Arbiter Sports account and then select “MIAA State Office – Central Hub”. That will take you to the MIAA Registration Page. Or, you can go directly to http://www.miaa.net, then scroll down and select the Arbiter Sports Icon on the left side of the page.
2) COMPLETE MIAA BACKGROUND CHECK (if yours has expired)
Check the Arbiter and then the MIAA State Office – Central Hub, to see if your background check has expired. The background check only has to be done every three years. Each official must use Arbiter Sports to register with the MIAA each year. New officials will have to complete the MIAA Background check and pay the $45 fee, plus the $10 for the sport of football.
3) COMPLETE THE NFHS CONCUSSION EXAM
Another requirement to work High School games you need to complete the NFHS Concussion Exam. Here is the link for the exam, https://nfhslearn.com/courses/concussion-in-sports-2
4) TAKE CARE OF YOUR EMBUA DUES/ATTEND MEETINGS
To be in “good standing” you must have paid your annual dues must be paid by the second General Membership Meeting as well as attend 4 of the 5 scheduled meetings. If you fail to do so, you will be suspended and prohibited from working games. We need everyone’s help and don’t want to suspend anyone, so please make every effort to stay in good standing.
5) STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR COMMISSIONER AND STAY UP TO DATE WITH YOUR ARBITER
Most, if not all, commissioners require a yearly Arbiter Sports fee. It’s a minimum fee. Check with your commissioner(s) about their Arbiter Sports fees and let them know about your availability. BLOCK all specific days between March 25, 2025, and July 3, 2025 that you are NOT available. The Commissioners cannot assign you to work a high school game if you have not completed all of the above requirements (MIAA $10 baseball fee, background check, EMBUA dues, etc.)
Have a great season!
David Treska
EMBUA, Secretary-Treasurer