[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Whowefoolin

Recently I have had numerous managers and coaches come up to me and question about calls/situations/rulings.

We then discussed that umpires have umpire meetings and managers have manager meetings, but they never interact.

So I thought about having an umpires symposium with managers as the guests. I knocked it around with a couple managers and they thought it would be a great idea.

My question:

What do I go over?

What areas do managers need to know about umpiring?

What would you want managers to know about working the field?

Each Group conducts their own meetings first.
From the coaches standpoint - what items do they want to cover and what problems they are having with umpires.

Converesely, the umpires would have their meeting and go over points they want covered with coaches etc.

The meeting should not be personal. Example: if the coaches feel that they are having problems with 1 or 2 specific umpires, that should be handled in a special meeting with the assignor and not discussed in an open public forum. Conversely, if umpires are having problems with only 1 or 2 coaches, that should be handled separately.

As a general rule, it's difficult discussing rules with umpires and coaches present. If your not careful, the meeting will go on too long with nothing being accomplished. Also, at least from my experience, it's not the rules knowledge that coaches complain about but an umpires demeanor.

From each group's comments about each other, get a common denominatior and start with that topic. No matter what kind of meeting you have make certain:

1. You have a written agenda that is handed out
2. Stick to the topics and do not get personal with one another
3. Keep the meeting moving and on time.
4. Have a central place ie; a Web Site: in which follow-up questions can be answered without having to call another meeting.

Good Luck!

Pete Booth