Parent Involvement in Fed ???

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

More directly, NFHS Rule 3-6-6 only permits the "batter, runner(s), on-deck batter, coaches in the coach's box, bat/ball shaggers or one of the nine players on defense... to be outside the designated dugout/bench or designated warm-up areas." This implies that no one else, except media (the rules provide for a designated media area to be set up on the field, with the stipulation that said area is to be considered dead ball territory) , umpires, and possibly active police or security, are to be allowed on the field.

That's a real stretch.

3-6-6 basically says that bench personnel must stay on the bench if they are not actively participating in the game. The exception is that they can also go to a designated warm-up area. The only implication in the rule is that team personnel are not allowed in the bleachers, concession stand, press box, along the fence next to the opposing dugout, etc. All of the case plays for 3-6-6 refer to bench personnel.

3-6-6 makes no mention whatsoever of spectators in between innings. Would you not allow a volunteer from the concession stand to bring your partner and you a Gatorade? What about someone from the stands who comes in to do some groundskeeping? Or a Mom who needs to help her daughter with a hair ribbon? So why would you feel compelled to prevent an adult who isn't a coach from helping a pitcher warm up?

I've done a number of high school games where there was only one adult in the dugout, and he/she has needed the help of a parent to take care of the dugout while he/she goes out to base coach. I don't see this as being any different.

[Multiple Sports]

Originally Posted by Manny A

That's a real stretch.

3-6-6 basically says that bench personnel must stay on the bench if they are not actively participating in the game. The exception is that they can also go to a designated warm-up area. The only implication in the rule is that team personnel are not allowed in the bleachers, concession stand, press box, along the fence next to the opposing dugout, etc. All of the case plays for 3-6-6 refer to bench personnel.

3-6-6 makes no mention whatsoever of spectators in between innings. Would you not allow a volunteer from the concession stand to bring your partner and you a Gatorade? What about someone from the stands who comes in to do some groundskeeping? Or a Mom who needs to help her daughter with a hair ribbon? So why would you feel compelled to prevent an adult who isn't a coach from helping a pitcher warm up?

I've done a number of high school games where there was only one adult in the dugout, and he/she has needed the help of a parent to take care of the dugout while he/she goes out to base coach. I don't see this as being any different.

So now you are going to let a parent in the dugout to be a "bench" coach. At the end of the inning, I guess that parent can go back to her lawn chair ??
This is why some feel softball is a second class sport or we treat if no different than parks and rec. They aren't a coach so when they holler and scream at you in the dug out and throw a bat onto the field to protest a call or you going to eject a "spectator". By your standards she isn't a coach.
Let's have coaches and spectators and keep them different. I don't toss spectators ( let admin deal with them ). I will eject a coach if neccessry.
Parents are not coaches....

I doubt there is another hs school sport where we as officials let parents (spectators ) get involved as much as they do....

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

So now you are going to let a parent in the dugout to be a "bench" coach. At the end of the inning, I guess that parent can go back to her lawn chair ??
This is why some feel softball is a second class sport or we treat if no different than parks and rec. They aren't a coach so when they holler and scream at you in the dug out and throw a bat onto the field to protest a call or you going to eject a "spectator". By your standards she isn't a coach.
Let's have coaches and spectators and keep them different. I don't toss spectators ( let admin deal with them ). I will eject a coach if neccessry.
Parents are not coaches....

I doubt there is another hs school sport where we as officials let parents (spectators ) get involved as much as they do....

You don't get to decide who the school considers an authorizes person or a coach.

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

So now you are going to let a parent in the dugout to be a "bench" coach. At the end of the inning, I guess that parent can go back to her lawn chair ??
This is why some feel softball is a second class sport or we treat if no different than parks and rec. They aren't a coach so when they holler and scream at you in the dug out and throw a bat onto the field to protest a call or you going to eject a "spectator". By your standards she isn't a coach.
Let's have coaches and spectators and keep them different. I don't toss spectators ( let admin deal with them ). I will eject a coach if neccessry.
Parents are not coaches....

I doubt there is another hs school sport where we as officials let parents (spectators ) get involved as much as they do....

No, I wouldn’t allow the “bench” coach to go back and forth from the dugout to the bleachers. Once they’ve established themselves as a “coach”, they have to stay in the dugout. It’s almost always a small school that is really hurting for players, and the coach is pretty much babysitting more than coaching. I can probably count on one hand where I’ve seen it happen.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Manny A

No, I wouldn’t allow the “bench” coach to go back and forth from the dugout to the bleachers. Once they’ve established themselves as a “coach”, they have to stay in the dugout. It’s almost always a small school that is really hurting for players, and the coach is pretty much babysitting more than coaching. I can probably count on one hand where I’ve seen it happen.

IMO, this would apply to any alphabet. Had a NQ one year where I noticed (as the UIC) the HC visiting a "spectator" sitting behind the backstop just a bit off-center every half inning. Before the next game this guy spent time with the team warming up on the field. I mentioned it to the TD (JO Commissioner) who sat down behind him for the next game. Not only was he charting pitches, he was offering direction that you would normally hear from a coach.

So, the TD told him he could either be a spectator or a coach and if he were going to coach, he needed to be in the dugout. He didn't like it, but he didn't argue too much. Apparently, the TD wasn't wrong