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