Veysey builds on her work as an ump

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This article was published 09/08/2023 (1005 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Umpiring has had a profound impact on Akayla Veysey.

The 22-year-old Brandonite, who is working at Softball Canada’s under-15 national championship this week at Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex, said eight years of serving as an ump has brought out a new confidence in her as she works with top local officials such as Bruce Luebke and Brad DeGraeve.

“When I started doing it, I was very shy and couldn’t speak up,” Veysey said. “Now, after umpiring, it’s brought a lot out of me, not only within the sport, but in my personal life and work life. There is tons of room for growth.

“I’ve now taken my instructor-evaluator course, so I’ve been helping Bruce and Brad run the clinics for new umpires. I’m getting to build on not just umpiring but now teaching younger umpires and other umpires interesting in the game.”

Veysey played softball growing up and curled during the winter, a sport she’s still active in. As her playing days were coming to an end, she wanted to remain a part of the softball community.

“It was just to stay involved in the sport and to learn more of the rules,” Veysey said. “I wanted to stay connected to it.”

Luebke, who is the co-chair of the host committee and has served as regional umpire-in-chief for more than a decade, said Veysey essentially fell in the local association’s lap.

“She really found us to get involved with umpiring,” Luebke said. “She was still playing when she started so it was something to do on the nights she wasn’t playing. I think from our standpoint, we recognized that she had a desire to improve, wanted to get a little bit more involved with the umpiring side when her playing career kind of finished after she graduated high school.

“We worked with her to get to the point where she can do AAA ball, the highest level in Manitoba.”

Luebke said it was a slow process in part due to her availability and also to the steep learning curve that all umpires face. It paid off, however, with Luebke personally advocating for her to join the Blue Crew at the U15 nationals in Saskatoon last summer.

Veysey quickly noticed the intensity and competitiveness were ratcheted up and even the energy in the air is different. She admitted to being a little nervous last year but thinks she can build on the experience.

“At nationals, we’re constantly being watched and evaluated,” Veysey said. “Knowing now what is expected of us will help me this year be less anxious about what all is going on behind the scenes.”

Luebke thought she performed well in Saskatoon — he was one of the umpire supervisors at the event — so on the drive back, he suggested she set the goal of serving at the 2023 event.

Veysey said he and the other senior umpires in Barndon have been instrumental in her development.

“They were always somebody who I could go to,” Veysey said. “They were always a phone call away, they were always watching my games, giving me feedback. This year especially, Bruce has been doing a lot of games with me and giving me that instant feedback and preparing me for nationals.”

At best it’s an often thankless task with little reward beyond the paycheque, and at worst a game official can be showered with abuse, although current guidelines have cut down on that a lot. So what does she enjoy out there?

“The energy and the competitiveness all around me,” Veysey said. Most umpires understand that an overwhelming majority of fans, players and even coaches have an incomplete understanding of the rule book. Veysey said part of her goal on the diamond is to change that with young players.

“Sometimes you just kind of giggle at fans or coaches who don’t quite understand the full meaning of the rule,” she said. “Even with players, I’m huge into teaching young people the full concepts of the rules, so I’m explaining and letting them learn the full rules is even beneficial for me.”

That makes sense because she has worked as an eduction assistant for four years and just completed her first year in education as she works toward her goal of becoming a teacher.

If Veysey had one thing she wishes fans better understood, it would be how quick the game is and how rapidly decisions have to be made.

Every official in any sport is going to make mistakes, and Veysey said the key to moving on is acknowledging the error and concentrating on the next pitch.

“Admitting to your mistake, moving forward, continuing on and kind of trying to forget about it and move forward” Veysey said, adding that owning the bad call takes different forms.

“It depends on the situation. Quite often it is admitting it to the coach. It allows us to even fix our mistake on the diamond if a coach comes out and questions it right away. You can backtrack, own up to your mistake, fix it and learn more about it after the game.

“You might not have known exactly what the mistake was but that you did make a mistake so it’s going over it after the game and figuring what you might have done better.”

Veysey said coaches are usually fine to deal with and it’s fans who are the worst. Even when coaches do get angry, they are usually emotional in the moment at what happened, not the umpire.

It helps that she has the support of the other member or members of the Blue Crew around her.

“There is a large group of umpires around who are similar in age to me, which makes a nice common mutual respect,” Veysey said. “Everybody brings a different aspect to the sport so we’re always trying to help each other grow and learn more.”

Fellow umpire Damien Mathys, who is just 16 and also working at nationals, said Veysey is a terrific umpire.

“She is very good,” Mathys said. “She is very confident in what she calls. I feel she is also very consistent with what she does. I like working with Akayla. I really do.”

Luebke agrees.

“She’s put in a lot of work this year to prepare and our senior umpires have mentored her quite a bit to help her get ready for this opportunity,” Luebke said. “I’m confident that she is going to be one of the best umpires at this championship. I really feel that and I’ve told her as much.”

For her part, Veysey is just excited to be part of a national event in her hometown. She expects it will be an unforgettable week.

“I think it’s an amazing experience and will definitely be one that I remember,” Veysey said. “Along with that, being able to do it at home brings that much more comfortability with it.”

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