The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports recently funded a grant proposal by the Amateur Baseball Umpires' Association, Inc. (ABUA), to conduct a national survey of college baseball umpires on their beliefs, attitudes, behavior and knowledge about spit-tobacco use and the NCAA's no-tobacco rule.

The results of this survey will be used to plan an instructional strategy aimed at reducing spit-tobacco use among college baseball players, coaches, team personnel and umpires, as well as improving implementation of the no-tobacco rule.

The ABUA is in the process of procuring mailing lists of college baseball umpires from Divisions I, II and III conferences. There are approximately 4,000 to 5,000 umpires who work NCAA college baseball. The ABUA randomly will select approximately 1,400 umpires to survey. The survey should be mailed by November 1; results will be provided to the NCAA in mid-December.

The NCAA and its Baseball Rules Committee have expressed concerns about the prevalence of spit- tobacco use by all on-field personnel and are serious about confronting this issue head-on. The survey will provide valuable information the NCAA can use to develop a prevention program that will make an impact.

Ted Breidenthal is executive director of the Amateur Baseball Umpires' Association, Inc., and of Sports Association Management, Inc.