Advice on UIC meeting with coaches!

[Blue37]

I would suggest getting with the Tournament Director and discussing things that are outside your responsibility, but would make your job easier. One in particular is infield practice order and the amount of time alloted to each of them. He needs to cover that in his portion of the meeting. Ask the TD about your supply of baseballs. Some tournaments require the teams to furnish a certain number of baseballs each game. If that is the case in this tournament, he needs to make sure the coaches know. You should not have to argue with the coaches about baseballs. The TD also needs to let them know if they will have responsibility for retrieving foul balls on their side.

Another problem that occasionally arises is the reporting of substitutes. Coaches are often used to reporting changes to the scorer and bypassing the umpire. Make sure everyone understands how that will work in your tournament.

The location of the on-deck batter is something that can cause confusion at a tournament. Sometimes there is not enough room for them to stay safely on their side of the field. Discussing that with everyone in attendance can eliminate delays during the game.

If at all possible, have your umpires at the meeting. Nothing is more embarrassing than having all the coaches on the same page regarding an issue, but the umpire does something different.

Congratulations on the assignment! Hope it goes smoothly!

[PeteBooth]

1. What rule code(s) are you playing by. The umpires assigned to this tournament need to know the rules. Should the umpires check equipment (ala HS FED rules). Any speed-up rules, other "special type' rules. If you have a pitch count limit (which seems to be popular these days) who is going to be the OFFICIAL person responsible for keeping track of this.

Probably the number one cause for controversy in youth tournaments is:

What type of sliding restrictions (if any) do you have. There is NO MUST Slide rule under any major rule code, however, FED/NCAA have the FPSR (Force Play slide rule) , define which slides are legal vs. which ones are not legal and also have a No malicious Contact rule for FED and a Collision rule for NCAA.


2.Unless the fields you play on have lights, most tournaments that I umpire have time limits. Also, it must be KNOWN up front if it is a DROP DEAD time limit or "No new inning shall start after" Time limit.

3. What do you do if there is tie after regulation? Some simply leave the game a tie, some tournaments play with the international tie-breaker, meaning we start with a man on second base.

4. is there going to be TD at every site? In other words, the TD FIRST decides if the fields are playable (should you encounter bad weather), however, once the umpires take the field, the game is now in their hands.

5. Are there any protest procedures in place? Again depending upon the tournament some have No protest procedures others do.

6. Is someone going to present to handle crowd control? Generally speaking Umpires do not control what goes on outside the diamond however, someone should be present to keep the fans in line.

Pete Booth