Our History ...

In 1968 the DeKalb Girls Softball Association (DGSA) came into being.
The purpose of the association was for teams from all the county's
youth parks to play in inter-league games between each other in a
"travel" format. For many years this was the only fast pitch softball
for youth played in the state of Georgia.

Each of the parks in DGSA was to furnish its own umpires for games
played at their site. The only requirement was that all umpires had to
be certified by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA). The idea was
that ASA sanctioning would provide a degree of consistency from park
to park. Nevertheless, over time the parks realized problems existed
in both rules interpretations and umpire mechanics with each park's
furnishing its own umpires. Therefore, in 1984 DGSA approached one
of the local umpiring groups, North Metro Umpires Association (NMUA),
and asked that this group become an umbrella group for all umpires
calling ball for DGSA. The goal was to achieve a degree of consistency
of training on rules and mechanics not previously seen in the program.
The new umpires' group retained the NMUA name. NMUA was initially
established with a simple structure having but two officers, a President
and a Secretary/Booking Agent. The result of the formation of the new
umbrella group was a success. DGSA realized improved operations, a
significant reduction in problems concerning umpires, and a much
improved problem resolution process when dealing with the rare
umpiring-related problem.

By 1987, DGSA had experienced considerable growth into Gwinnett,
Rockdale and Cobb counties. Reflecting this growth outside of DeKalb
county, DGSA reorganized and became the Metro Girls Fastpitch Softball
Association (MGFSA). MGFSA retained NMUA as their only source for
game officials. The agreement between MGFSA and NMUA remained in
effect until MGFSA shut down due to a shift in interest of teams into
playing more tournament ball which also meant using week days for
practice sessions rather than games.

In 1989, NMUA formally incorporated and began operating under a new
set of bylaws. At this time the number of elected officers was increased
from 2 to 4. These included a Chairman of the Board, Vice Chairman of
the Board, Secretary, and Treasurer/Booking Agent. In 1998, the bylaws
were updated to split the Treasurer/Booking Agent position into two
separate positions, a Treasurer and a Booking Agent. This raised the
number of constitutional officers from 4 to 5 where it remains today.
Now the five officers are President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer,
and Assignor (Booking Agent).

Operationally, the only other major change since incorporation in 1989
came with the addition of fast pitch softball as a sanctioned high school
sport under the control of the Georgia High School Association (GHSA).
NMUA was one of the first three umpiring bodies certified for calling
GHSA softball contests. The GHSA charter remains in effect. While
NMUA calls far fewer youth games than in the past, it has retained a
heavy involvement in umpiring ASA tournament ball along with strong
participation in GHSA games. This has taken NMUA from its original roots
as basically a one-season-per-year operation to near-year-around
coverage of games in spring, summer and fall.