There is always the option for umpires to teach ... kids to behave and do not be afraid to take corrective action when necessary. :eek:

You work Jarts? ;)

An umpire's job on the field isn't to teach. That would make them a coach.

Wrong kind of teach, applying rules and disciplinary effects is teaching, reference to behavior.

I still want to know how much you get paid for officiating Jarts... :)

Don't believe there are any official ruling bodies as of yet, but I hear the YSISF is spinning off a YSIJF org. ;)

Boy... Won't that be brutal!

On deck circles
 

Ok....I do federation....not ASA....our local league plays by federation rules and then adds league specific/special rules.....I am coaching my daughters team.....and this young umpire makes a big deal about the on deck batter by sending them over in front of the other teams bench....in-between innings...I told her that per fed rules....teams stay on their own side.....because she didn't want me to be right....she says...oh..in ASA...the umpires have us do that all the time....so after reading this post...I realize that she is even more full of crap and I can't wait to correct her! So...to be clear...ASA does not allow on deck batters to be on their opponents on deck circle...right?

Thanks!

ASA does not, but it is a common league rule around here, so she may have been referring to an ASA-based league with such a local rule as if it was "ASA".

NSA, which is often confusing, makes this one simple:

7 13 b. "The on-deck batter shall take a position within the lines of either on-deck circle without blocking the view of any manager or coach."

What I found ironic was a situation I observed Sunday morning. The drawn circles were less than 30 feet from the plate. One player from the 1B dugout apparently decided it was too close and drew her own circle with a bat about 20 feet further down the 1B fence. In fact, she turned her back on an active batter while drawing this "safer" circle. :eek:

She was not only only one who decided not to use the provided circles (I don't know that any of them did, actually), but the only one who I observed with her back to the batter while doing so.

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As many of you know, Dixie Youth wants the on-deck batter behind the batter. Many kids (and coaches) have trouble making the adjustment as they first venture out into ASA (and alphabet soup) play.

One of the many many reasons not to let your kids play Dixie.

If safety is that big a concern (and with some of the fields, it IS a concern), keep the ODB in the "team area"... i.e. behind the fence.

In most places you play what's in your town. Dixie Youth is in mine. Granted, Little League is in the next town, but half (or more) of rec is playing with your friends from school, etc.

Understood (and LL is not that much a step up.) I would suggest getting involved and trying to sway the board or tptb to change to a real softball organization.

For a couple of years (2005, 2006) when the league had a fallout with Dixie, baseball went USSSA and softball went Babe Ruth. Not much (if any) of an improvement. The next year they decided to return to Dixie Youth. Babe Ruth softball is just about non-existant in this state.

By the time they were leaving Babe Ruth, one DD had aged out of rec and the other was lost to the dark side (soccer), so my involvement had reached about nil.