Face coverings are a touchy subject these days. The Illinois High School Association and Illinois Elementary School Association have provided guidelines for the Return-to-Play strategy. How do umpires and face masks impact the continued softball season?

Today’s guest is Daniel Maldanado, known by his peers as Candy. I’ve known Candy for about 4 years through collegiate and travel softball officiating. Hailing from Las Cruces, New Mexico, Dan currently lives in Illinois and travels the country umpiring softball for a living. An avid health nut and dedicated official, Dan has gone from working USA travel softball to Division 1 softball in just under eight  years. Today’s discussion is about his progression through the umpiring ranks, his advice about advancing for current umpires, and a reflection on the years he’s spent in the profession.

Theme music:
Laying Low by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial  (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/61081 Ft: Apoxode

Coronavirus has taken its toll on umpires across all levels of softball. How do we deal with the impacts of the pandemic and turn it into a positive?

In this episode, we discuss some of the roadblocks to becoming an umpire and how to overcome some of them.

Behind the Mask is a podcast about the unseen side of umpiring softball. In this episode we introduce the podcaster and the general idea behind the podcast.