Classless behavior by " coaches"

[SoCal_Dad]

Any team that wants to go to ASA/USA 10U Nats can get a berth passed down to them. It only draws around 40 teams and only 3 OH teams went to TN last year. Most teams only want to qualify for bragging rights, not the berth.

 

[Uber_jones]

I coached in the 14's and 10's at the Metro this weekend, the worst umpiring I've ever experienced in 10+ I've been coaching travel. The good thing was they were equally bad for both teams.

 

[softballmom3687]

Another vote for horrible umpiring.
You can't really take the results of close games seriously with how bad it was.
When a kid gets up to bat and is forced to swing wildly at anything because the strike zone is an enigma, it is bad for the kids. It is horrible to see kids who are normally selective in what they hit seem clueless and unsure of themselves because the "normal" rules don't apply.

 

[Bekah24]

Moreover this hateful rant that presented none of the facts was posted on two places on this forum. Seems to me like someone has some kind of agenda to try and do a smear campaign.... the guy running the place wouldn't have pulled him if he truly believed the coaches were in the wrong. On a side note the lightning coaches were understanding and on the same page from my understanding and their young pitcher was an absolute stud!

We were all on the same page! Thanks for the kind words hearing that compliment will probably make her day

 

[coachjwb]

Piecing this all together, this sounds a lot more like issues with the way a tourney was being run vs. bad behavior by coaches. How does a huge national qualifier not have enough umpires and even some of the ones who are there are unqualified? Gee, it's the Dayton Metro and there's never been any problems there.

Sorry for the sarcasm ... while I know a lot of hard work goes into this tourney and there have been some improvements over the years, but every single year there are issues that most other huge tourneys don't have.

 

[Hilliarddad3]

Sorry Dad of Daughters, so many sanctions out there today are so watered down, Nationals are like freaking cheerleading these days, you're right I'm getting old and forgotten most of what I know about softball...... I don't care 10 u or 18 u they are kids playing a GAME nothing more and that's the most important part of youth sports regardless....

let's see 10 and under right now, so odds are strong that 2 girls on that team will stay in the game and play in college.........

 

[Uber_jones]

Piecing this all together, this sounds a lot more like issues with the way a tourney was being run vs. bad behavior by coaches. How does a huge national qualifier not have enough umpires and even some of the ones who are there are unqualified? Gee, it's the Dayton Metro and there's never been any problems there.

Sorry for the sarcasm ... while I know a lot of hard work goes into this tourney and there have been some improvements over the years, but every single year there are issues that most other huge tourneys don't have.

Coach it was as bad of umpiring as I've seen, coaching in high school, travel, community AND CYO lol... The kid ump in question was the worst of them all, we were playing on the field next to them and it was one of the oddest things I've seen. It looked like it was just a judgement call in a run down that set the wheels in motion.

 

[Bekah24]

Piecing this all together, this sounds a lot more like issues with the way a tourney was being run vs. bad behavior by coaches. How does a huge national qualifier not have enough umpires and even some of the ones who are there are unqualified? Gee, it's the Dayton Metro and there's never been any problems there.

Sorry for the sarcasm ... while I know a lot of hard work goes into this tourney and there have been some improvements over the years, but every single year there are issues that most other huge tourneys don't have.

It was not a situation of bad coaches in fact with talking with the young ump with Mike he was nothing other than respectful to this young kid. The ump was completely in over his head which was not fair to him, and it was not fair to both the teams involved.

 

[Linedrive21]

We were at this tournament as well and the umpire in question did in fact umpire one of our games, alone I might add, and while I do agree with all those who commented on his lack of knowledge concerning even the most basic of rules, I have to give the kid ( he MIGHT have been 16 ? ) credit for having the courage to go out on the field in a NQ surrounded by an intensity he could not possibly have anticipated. Instead of blaming him or pointing my finger at him, and believe me he was frustrating me in ways I thought not possible, lol, I choose to place the blame squarely on the TD who quite frankly sacrificed this kid and threw him to the lions, and in addition flipped off every single parent, player and coach in the 10u bracket. For 550 Dollars to have to play with 1 umpire is indefensible, and I hope to never return to this tournament again NQ bid up for grabs or not. I prefer my xxx to be consensual, thank you.....

 

[Lasers 04 Coach Mike]

First off; Let me introduce myself as the "Classless Laser 10U Coach" and offer the folks here on the Softball Zone a little insight of what actually took place. I have no problem taking one on the chin as it was the right thing to do for all involved and especially the young man behind the plate! This was a joint decision made before the game even started. The Site director, TD, (and I assume the UIC), along with both coaching staffs were involved in the decision making process.

We were given the option to wait 1/2 hour until a replacement was to arrive or start the game and give the kid a chance. If things got out of hand, and the verbal bashing continued, the plan was to stop the game and wait for the relieving umpire. That's exactly what we did! We gave the kid a chance! After several book checks and a couple of questionable calls in the first inning; the situation was not good. So I called time out, went to the site director and told him it was best for all to just wait on the relieving umpire. The main concern was; believe it or not; for the young man behind the plate! The umpire in question was a very young man who was put in a situation that encompassed verbal beatings from every game he had on Friday. He was trying his best with the knowledge he had and I appreciated that. I was never disrespectful to this young man and I am positive he would attest to that. I would like to say this about the young man. He maintained his composure though all the verbal assaults. I don't know if I could have done that but then again; I have no class!

On a side note; There was a message sent out to coaches on Saturday morning stating several umpires had dropped out due to heat and that there would be some games with only one umpire. I personally do not buy that as an excuse. Flat out didn't have the staff from the get go as some of the games on Friday only had one umpire.

 

[frenchy101010]

I have no dog in this, but I think it is funny how some are calling out a 15 or 16 year old kid and have no problem doing it, but if you call out a girl player you get blasted, lol.

 

[brownsfan]

We were at this tournament as well and the umpire in question did in fact umpire one of our games, alone I might add, and while I do agree with all those who commented on his lack of knowledge concerning even the most basic of rules, I have to give the kid ( he MIGHT have been 16 ? ) credit for having the courage to go out on the field in a NQ surrounded by an intensity he could not possibly have anticipated. Instead of blaming him or pointing my finger at him, and believe me he was frustrating me in ways I thought not possible, lol, I choose to place the blame squarely on the TD who quite frankly sacrificed this kid and threw him to the lions, and in addition flipped off every single parent, player and coach in the 10u bracket. For 550 Dollars to have to play with 1 umpire is indefensible, and I hope to never return to this tournament again NQ bid up for grabs or not. I prefer my xxx to be consensual, thank you.....

Can definitely tell this is 10U. It took only 50 posts for someone to praise this kid umpire. I mean come on people, you all over each other if it's a girl playing the sport they love and use "SHE'S JUST A KID" saying; but yet an umpire is a kid, the saying changes because the kids an umpire. Talk about bullying! Not only did he get destroyed on the field by both parents and coaches in person, but on this forum as well. I've got to give this kid some major credit for having the maturity of dealing with this.

I have no dog in this fight s we weren't there. I was bullied by an adult as a kid once, ONLY ONCE (Johnny Dangerfleld saying here); but he did apologize to both myself and my mother. When my oldest daughter umpired a rec game, I was there because I know how nasty people can get for a freaking bragging rights win at 10-12U, especially over a quality team.

So before you go off and say this kid sucks, educate him on the game. Take the time out and coach him on the rules and destroy the UIC on this one. The UIC should have checked their qualifications first.

 

[brownsfan]

First off; Let me introduce myself as the "Classless Laser 10U Coach" and offer the folks here on the Softball Zone a little insight of what actually took place. I have no problem taking one on the chin as it was the right thing to do for all involved and especially the young man behind the plate! This was a joint decision made before the game even started. The Site director, TD, (and I assume the UIC), along with both coaching staffs were involved in the decision making process.

We were given the option to wait 1/2 hour until a replacement was to arrive or start the game and give the kid a chance. If things got out of hand, and the verbal bashing continued, the plan was to stop the game and wait for the relieving umpire. That's exactly what we did! We gave the kid a chance! After several book checks and a couple of questionable calls in the first inning; the situation was not good. So I called time out, went to the site director and told him it was best for all to just wait on the relieving umpire. The main concern was; believe it or not; for the young man behind the plate! The umpire in question was a very young man who was put in a situation that encompassed verbal beatings from every game he had on Friday. He was trying his best with the knowledge he had and I appreciated that. I was never disrespectful to this young man and I am positive he would attest to that. I would like to say this about the young man. He maintained his composure though all the verbal assaults. I don't know if I could have done that but then again; I have no class!

On a side note; There was a message sent out to coaches on Saturday morning stating several umpires had dropped out due to heat and that there would be some games with only one umpire. I personally do not buy that as an excuse. Flat out didn't have the staff from the get go as some of the games on Friday only had one umpire.

Thank you! If anything it sounds like the IUC dropped the ball on this one. Sounds like he knew this was a kid and left him to the wolves. What should have happened is get an umpire right away, let him have the plate AND put him on the field to learn.

 

[Linedrive21]

I agree w/ you lasers04, and as I stated previously this kid umpire that was sent out onto the field deserves a round of applause because whoever was in authority threw this youngster to the lions. And as for your reputation, let me also state for the record that you and your team are first rate, first class and it is always a pleasure to compete against you, win or lose teams like yours and coaches like you make our club better....as for the side note in your post, IMHO someone simply disrespected the 10u bracket and made a conscious decision to supply 1 umpire and pocket the extra cash...

First off; Let me introduce myself as the "Classless Laser 10U Coach" and offer the folks here on the Softball Zone a little insight of what actually took place. I have no problem taking one on the chin as it was the right thing to do for all involved and especially the young man behind the plate! This was a joint decision made before the game even started. The Site director, TD, (and I assume the UIC), along with both coaching staffs were involved in the decision making process.

We were given the option to wait 1/2 hour until a replacement was to arrive or start the game and give the kid a chance. If things got out of hand, and the verbal bashing continued, the plan was to stop the game and wait for the relieving umpire. That's exactly what we did! We gave the kid a chance! After several book checks and a couple of questionable calls in the first inning; the situation was not good. So I called time out, went to the site director and told him it was best for all to just wait on the relieving umpire. The main concern was; believe it or not; for the young man behind the plate! The umpire in question was a very young man who was put in a situation that encompassed verbal beatings from every game he had on Friday. He was trying his best with the knowledge he had and I appreciated that. I was never disrespectful to this young man and I am positive he would attest to that. I would like to say this about the young man. He maintained his composure though all the verbal assaults. I don't know if I could have done that but then again; I have no class!

On a side note; There was a message sent out to coaches on Saturday morning stating several umpires had dropped out due to heat and that there would be some games with only one umpire. I personally do not buy that as an excuse. Flat out didn't have the staff from the get go as some of the games on Friday only had one umpire.

 

[BretMan2]

Thank you! If anything it sounds like the IUC dropped the ball on this one...

Just for the record, the Umpire-in-Chief is not usually the same person who assigns the umpires. Neither is the tournament director. In most cases there is a separate umpire assigner who receives a schedule from the TD and then goes to work on filling all of the games with warm bodies.

Since blame and outrage is the theme of the day, let's just make sure we're blaming the right people!

 

[Run26]

I don't want to hijack this wonderful thread but I'd like to make it clear that bad umpiring was going around everywhere at the Kettering Fields. I have seen my fair share of games but some of these guys really added a new dimension to the game.

 

[Dad of Daughters]

...but some of these guys really added a new dimension to the game.

Chuckled out loud at how you put this!

 

[Uber_jones]

1st game of the day @ 10u, vs Laser Blue, both pitchers are dealing, neither catcher is moving their mitt about 90% of their pitches, it took about a half inning for both teams to realize if the catcher doesn't move her mitt he's calling a strike, so like any good pitcher/Catcher combo, they were both getting strikes called in the other batters box.

We seen him later on and it looked like he found out he had been misinformed about 10u pitchers and fixed his zone lol

 

[brownsfan]

Just for the record, the Umpire-in-Chief is not usually the same person who assigns the umpires. Neither is the tournament director. In most cases there is a separate umpire assigner who receives a schedule from the TD and then goes to work on filling all of the games with warm bodies.

Since blame and outrage is the theme of the day, let's just make sure we're blaming the right people!

I knew the TD has nothing to do with the umps. But I did think the UIC did get to pick his own crew, or have some knowledge of his crew. So thanks for the info.

 

[CarMad]

I'm not sure what or if there are any differences in the sanctioning bodies but I will tell you we had great umpires the entire time at the IUP USSSA tourney this weekend. We all commented about them. Friendly, professional and consistent all weekend. Really improves the experience.