Wheelchair coaching

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by Elaine "Lady Blue"
No offense, Mark, but aren't you just a little paranoid for an umpire? Or anal? If I were as afraid as you seem to be, I would quit umpiring and my regular job and work from home where it is MUCH safer! JMHO Some folks on this board may appreciate your comments, but I feel like I'm being scolded by an over protective parent! Stay where you are, don't move to Atlanta!

Its not a matter of being paranoid or anal. It is called due diligence. As officials we are expected to know better than anyone else dangers a coach in a wheelchair on the playing field can cause. Officiating an athletic contest and designing building structures are very similiar activities. When it comes to the safety of players in an athletic contest, I apply the same guiding prinicples that I use in designing buildings. To quote Spock: "The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few."

A wheelchair bound coach who insists on being on the playing field is not different than the client who wants his structural engineer to design a structure that is in direct conflict with good engineering judgement. It is the responsibility of the engineer to tell his client that now matter how much he wants something, he is not going to get it because it violates the principles of good engineering judgement.