With baseball season right around the corner, prospective umpires, or those wanting more certification, have a chance to take part in a pair of clinics this weekend.

Swift Current Minor Baseball is putting on the clinics, which are open to those aged 12 and up.

The Level 1 course, open for beginners or those wanting to complete their first stage of certification, runs Saturday. Meanwhile, the Level 2 clinic goes on Sunday, and is for those wanting further certification and to ump higher levels of baseball.

Bryce Martin, who's putting the clinics on through Swift Current Minor Baseball, said taking umpire clinics allows for a better overall understanding of the game.

"Even for the players who take the course, they get a different perception of why the umpire was in a certain position to make the call - why they made the call that they did," he said. "It gives us a better opportunity to understand the many, many, many differences between the rules that pertain to the sport of baseball."

Martin umps several different levels around the southwest, as well as schedules umps for games. He says the strength of numbers in the sport are a positive, though the number of umpires needs to grow to match that.

"I scheduled approximately 240 baseball games last year. To find umpires for that many games really emphasizes the need for us to have some bench strength of our own from the umpire crew perspective - not only for Swift Current Minor Baseball, but also some of the other communities in the southwest."

Both Saturday and Sunday's clinics start at 9 a.m. from Ecole Centennial school.

For more information, or to contact Bryce Martin, click here.