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Old Fri Jul 29, 2016, 10:10am
IRISHMAFIA IRISHMAFIA is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RKBUmp View Post
You can explain the rule all you want, until you actually enforce it coaches will do nothing to correct the problem. I have been on both sides of the issue, umpired a rec league for 5-6 years, and then assisted coaching a team in the same league. It drove me absolutely nuts to watch things happen and not be called "because the kids are learning". They will not learn and neither will the coaches unless the rules are actually enforced..
If that is their attitude, they need coaches, not umpires.

When I first started umpiring (baseball), it was an 8-team league. There was no association and everything was in-house. Used same rules as major leagues except for a few modifications which addressed distances and sportsmanship. All teams had scheduled use of the local fields for practice.

I was one of league's umpires (three of us) who made it point to attend at least one practice of every team to talk to the coaches about any rule changes and point out anything I noticed a player doing that could become an issue during a game. All, but one coach appreciated the help. That one coach was a semi-pro player who told me to leave his team alone (mind you, I never talked to the players), that he knew all the rules and we had better be on my toes.

Want to guess which team had more balks, interference and obstruction calls during the season? Want to guess which coach was the only one ejected all season?

If a league wants the umpire's input to help the kids learn, I've always believed this is how that should happen, not on the field during live games where they are playing for position.
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The bat issue in softball is as much about liability, insurance and litigation as it is about competition, inflated egos and softball.
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