Advice on UIC meeting with coaches!
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. |
Coach's meeting
Quote:
|
Quote:
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. |
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. |
Quote:
1) Ground rules (field and dugouts) 2) Coaches stay in the dugouts (or what every your ground rules are) 3) Keep them moving between innings 4) Coaches conduct (what you will allow and will not allow) Other than that not too much unless you have had problems with a certain issue in the past and then I would deal with that also. Thansk DAvid |
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).
|
Quote:
|
Coaches Responsibilities
Remind them that they are responsible for their :
1) Players 2) Asst. Coaches 3) Their fans behavior |
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. |
Quote:
Well said. |
I have used this forum quite often and you guys are really knowledgable umpires
Now that is funny in so many ways! :-) |
Tim, where did you get the quote on your signature??
|
What rules set are you playing under, FED or OBR? That is where I would begin.
|
Tourney
extra innings, time limits and tie breakers
protest resolutions w/in rule set per UIC or TD |
Quote:
|
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! |
Quote:
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 |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:53am. |