I have thrown this out in several locations looking for referrals. In addition to being an umpire I am also the V.P. for our local Pony league with its 65 teams and approx. 900 children. Last year was the first year in our six year history that we had a severe problem with behavior on the part of coaches and parents alike. In the first three weeks of our season we had over six incidents requiring intervention by others to stop arguments from escalating to the physical realm. Three of which required major restraining of the parties involved.
Our board made sure the entire league took a major timeout (one local league went so far as to shutdown for three days for similar problems before resuming play) to reevaluate how we were going to address such problems. We made penalties much more severe and handed out some pretty stiff penalties and things seemed to settle down although not completely.
News reports across the country have shown us that this is hardly a local problem and worse it seems to be escalating rather than slowing down. Several message threads on umpire sites reflect similar problems. On several occasions we have heard youth leagues making up "behavior contracts" for all of their participants (coaches, parents, and kids) to sign and reports have been that they have been quite successful in steming negative behavior problems.
We are looking to create such a document. My question is does anyone out there have access to one of these contracts or have information that would direct me to where I might find more information on this subject? I would greatly appreciate the help, thank you.
George Campos, Vice-President
Murrieta Valley PONY Baseball
Murrieta, CA
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