Advice on UIC meeting with coaches!

[Don Mueller]

Originally Posted by timharris

Good Day All


I have used this forum quite often and you guys are really knowledgable umpires. I will be the Umpire in Chief for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend which includes 9 fields, it is a AAU State Tournament for 9-12 year olds here in Virginia. I have been given the duty of meeting with all the coaches this upcoming Friday night, what are some of things I should cover? In the past I have covered things such as (1) sportmanship and safety supercedes everything on the fields. (2) Umpires will only acknowledge head coaches (meaning coach that was at the pre-game meeting) if their is a question about any play or rule interpertation during the game. (3)The on deck batter must stay on his dugout side while on deck. What are some other things that I might want too add, so my weekend can be a little smoother.

Thanks for all the info.

If I were you I'd be very practical.
IMO when coaches hear anything about sportsmanship all they hear is blah blah blah blah blah. They've all heard it before and no one considers themselves unsportsmanlike so they tune it out.

So I would tell them:
"If you argue, question, complain or comment on balls and strikes you are at risk of being tossed. If you argue, question, complain or comment on any judgement call you are at risk of being tossed. Your assistant coaches have no standing at all with the umpires so they are at risk of being tossed when they show up(a little toungue in cheek, but a comment along that line would be good) Same goes for your players. As UIC I will stand behind the umpires 100% in these situations."

While you have their attention you might want to throw in a 5 minute rules seminar and disspell some of the common baseball myths that most frequently cause problems between uninformed coaches and umpires ie hands are part of the bat and tie goes to the runner etc etc.
It's not often that 9-12 yr old coaches have an umpire speak to them so take advantage of the opportunity to say something meaningful.
After all the 9-12 yr old coaches are the travel coaches of tomorrow.

[Rcichon]

Keep it simple:

Ask Manager about specific ground [field] rules or at least cover field rules if any apply.
Ask them if all players have proper gear.
Review any recent problems that seem important to you to advise them on [jewelery on players, etc].

"Send up your Batter, Skip".

Even this will be too much for some.
Just remember less is more.

[mcrowder]

Rcichon - read the OP again... he's not talking about plate conferences at all. He's the UIC for a tourney, and talking about his coach's meeting (assumedly taking place LONG before games start, and with ALL coaches in attendance).

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Rcichon

Keep it simple:

Ask Manager about specific ground [field] rules or at least cover field rules if any apply.
Ask them if all players have proper gear.
Review any recent problems that seem important to you to advise them on [jewelery on players, etc].

"Send up your Batter, Skip".

Even this will be too much for some.
Just remember less is more.

Reading Is Fundamental.

[Cub42]

Remind them that they are responsible for their :
1) Players
2) Asst. Coaches
3) Their fans behavior

[RPatrino]

Do you have any "special" rules for the tournament that are above and beyond the ones under the rule set you are playing under? Time limits, pitching restrictions, special ground rules, run rules, etc.

You might want to put them in writing and hand them to both the umps and managers before you start play. I've had it happen to me, something weird happens and there are no written guidelines to refer to.

[Junker]

Originally Posted by Don Mueller

If I were you I'd be very practical.
IMO when coaches hear anything about sportsmanship all they hear is blah blah blah blah blah. They've all heard it before and no one considers themselves unsportsmanlike so they tune it out.

So I would tell them:
"If you argue, question, complain or comment on balls and strikes you are at risk of being tossed. If you argue, question, complain or comment on any judgement call you are at risk of being tossed. Your assistant coaches have no standing at all with the umpires so they are at risk of being tossed when they show up(a little toungue in cheek, but a comment along that line would be good) Same goes for your players. As UIC I will stand behind the umpires 100% in these situations."

While you have their attention you might want to throw in a 5 minute rules seminar and disspell some of the common baseball myths that most frequently cause problems between uninformed coaches and umpires ie hands are part of the bat and tie goes to the runner etc etc.
It's not often that 9-12 yr old coaches have an umpire speak to them so take advantage of the opportunity to say something meaningful.
After all the 9-12 yr old coaches are the travel coaches of tomorrow.

Well said.

[johnnyg08]

I have used this forum quite often and you guys are really knowledgable umpires

Now that is funny in so many ways! :-)

[johnnyg08]

Tim, where did you get the quote on your signature??

[etn_ump]

What rules set are you playing under, FED or OBR? That is where I would begin.

[SAump]

extra innings, time limits and tie breakers
protest resolutions w/in rule set per UIC or TD

[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!

[radwaste50]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

Tim, where did you get the quote on your signature??

This quote is widely attributed to "Frank Outlaw" on the Web, but we've found no confirmation that this is the correct source. Popular quotation books — including Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (17th ed., 2002), Roget's International Thesaurus of Quotations (1970) and The Harper Book of Quotations (3rd ed., 1993) — do not include this quote or any reference to Frank Outlaw.