Conferences

[ChampaignBlue]

I was working the other night and we had a couple of our newer blues working the diamond next to mine. They had one of "those" calls that was sure to get an argument from the defense. They did not handle it well and I feel that some reminders on how to handle them in the future might be good for some of the newer blues here.

1st of all, if you are going to your partner for help on a rule you talk to your partner ONLY. Chase all of the players that want to join in on the conversation away so you can have a candid conversation. I had one that went, "Man, I really had my head up my a@@ on that one." We then did some pointing and head nodding and then reversed the call. No way we could have had that talk with a player standing there.

2nd: If you are going to talk with the coach your partner has the job of chasing all the extra players away. Make it absolutly clear that you are going to talk to one, and only one, person! There is far less confusion and time lost trying to explain to one person than with 10. If you have no partner tell the coach that if he wants a conversation then HE needs to chase away all the extras.

Above all it is your job to remain calm. The only time that you need to raise your voice is to make it loud enough for all to hear that you will be talking to the coach just as soon as the rest of you go back to your positions.

After all of this they still may not like your call/ruling but they will respect you in the end.

[CecilOne]

Good points, especially
"if you are going to your partner for help on a rule you talk to your partner ONLY"
and
"Above all it is your job to remain calm"