Embedded With the Enemy
By John Moore | NMPreps Contributor
Part 1 (baseball and softball)
Reading through Twitter, trying not to make dumb comments, I came across an ad for officials in NM. I retired from education a few years back and I had some time. I love sports so I thought I would give it a shot. I was a softball head coach for 8 years and a baseball head coach for 5 years so I naturally signed up to officiate these two sports.
Early in my coaching career, I was terrible to umpires. My team was not good, so every call seemed to just kill us. I lived and died (it seemed) on each pitch. Luckily, through some guidance, I became a much better coach and much better when it came to umpires; not perfect, but better. Still, I had some guilt about being unsportsmanlike and thought I would, as penance, umpire for a couple years. Here are some thoughts.
Why are we so short of officials? First, the job is difficult. It is a pressure filled job that is exciting, but there is no chance of winning for the umpire. Most say, “I couldn’t take people yelling at me.” I didn’t really worry about that. What I did worry about was blowing a call, cheating some kid out of an at-bat. I know how hard these kids work and how badly they want to win and I did not want to make a bad call. That pressure was more than I believed, it eases with time, but it is very stressful.
As far as sportsmanship, there are a few headaches. All umpires miss calls, and new umpires (with exceptions) miss more than vets. I had zero problems with kids being disrespectful, none. Coaches… well, I could see in the bad teams the very behavior I used to bring to the park. I easily handled these conflicts and I never even warned a coach about sportsmanship. When you get into a very competitive situation, the pressure is up and you might get some comments that are unsportsmanlike. Most of the time, the coach is wrong, just like I was when I coached. They have a job to do, but if umpires can stick it out for a few years, they will feel like they have the “chops” to be on the same field as any team. They will know the coaches personally and be a part of this grand thing we called sports.
As for fans, some believe that chirping at the umpire is part of the experience. Veteran umpires can ignore or even use poor behavior as motivation to do well, but this takes some time to learn.
I had one varsity softball game with a fan giving the Rocky IV speech to his daughter at bat in the second inning. “All your power! All your love!” I am kidding, of course, but this dad’s intensity raised the level for the entire scene. He was intensely coaching every pitch, this raised the coach’s intensity as if he needed to do more coaching, or chirping. Other fans perked up. Now a pitch on the outside corner called a strike gets a reaction. On this occasion the kid hit a two-strike single, but it hit me how easily a combative atmosphere can develop. You take the inherent intensity of sport and add personal politics and you have potential conflict. Now if you add in the non-player character, the umpire (me), and a strike call on a pitch that may have been a ball, you get the reason many do not want to ever be the umpire. If they only knew how much I wanted to get every call right.
We are asking fans to understand that we are struggling to find umpires and the officials, “have to be coddled.” This is not going to happen. Our only hope is that coaches have spoken to team parents about how to watch the games, how to support the team, and what to expect during the game.
New umpires must receive training. When I signed up to umpire I got a friendly email from the baseball assigner. Next, I got a text saying, “Are you going to accept the game I assigned you?” That was how I started. I found some gear at a second hand sports shop and ordered some generic umpire shirts from Amazon. I read what I could about mechanics online, then loaded up and went to Deming for JV baseball. Game 1 went great on the bases, then, for game two I geared up and got behind the plate. The visiting coach, obviously not understanding how starved for umpires we were, said, “We need some consistency back there, Blue!” I couldn’t help but think, “Consistent to what?” I wish he knew how badly I wanted to do well.
To find a new umpire, you have to find one with the time, the love of sports, the temperament, and some ability. We are asking the new umps to shell out $400 for gear, minimum, and learn on the fly. Remember how frustrating having a new job was? Most umpires are very helpful to rookies, most but not all. Every umpire brings his or her own experiences to the park and it really isn’t their job to teach the new guy during a game.
The NMAA has done a good job recruiting officials, waiving fees the first year, and supporting officials. My assigners did a great job of putting me in good situations and encouraging me, but they are the ones who really feel the stress of not having enough bodies. Coaches are truly the stewards of our game and I encourage them to be great at learning the game, imparting knowledge to assistants and players, and teaching about the role of umpires. The best way to learn about this role, is to officiate yourself.
To be continued....
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Moore: Quitters
By John Moore | NMPreps Contributor
Part 1 (baseball and softball)
Reading through Twitter, trying not to make dumb comments, I came across an ad for officials in NM. I retired from education a few years back and I had some time. I love sports so I thought I would give it a shot. I was a softball head coach for 8 years and a baseball head coach for 5 years so I naturally signed up to officiate these two sports.
Early in my coaching career, I was terrible to umpires. My team was not good, so every call seemed to just kill us. I lived and died (it seemed) on each pitch. Luckily, through some guidance, I became a much better coach and much better when it came to umpires; not perfect, but better. Still, I had some guilt about being unsportsmanlike and thought I would, as penance, umpire for a couple years. Here are some thoughts.
Why are we so short of officials? First, the job is difficult. It is a pressure filled job that is exciting, but there is no chance of winning for the umpire. Most say, “I couldn’t take people yelling at me.” I didn’t really worry about that. What I did worry about was blowing a call, cheating some kid out of an at-bat. I know how hard these kids work and how badly they want to win and I did not want to make a bad call. That pressure was more than I believed, it eases with time, but it is very stressful.
As far as sportsmanship, there are a few headaches. All umpires miss calls, and new umpires (with exceptions) miss more than vets. I had zero problems with kids being disrespectful, none. Coaches… well, I could see in the bad teams the very behavior I used to bring to the park. I easily handled these conflicts and I never even warned a coach about sportsmanship. When you get into a very competitive situation, the pressure is up and you might get some comments that are unsportsmanlike. Most of the time, the coach is wrong, just like I was when I coached. They have a job to do, but if umpires can stick it out for a few years, they will feel like they have the “chops” to be on the same field as any team. They will know the coaches personally and be a part of this grand thing we called sports.
As for fans, some believe that chirping at the umpire is part of the experience. Veteran umpires can ignore or even use poor behavior as motivation to do well, but this takes some time to learn.
I had one varsity softball game with a fan giving the Rocky IV speech to his daughter at bat in the second inning. “All your power! All your love!” I am kidding, of course, but this dad’s intensity raised the level for the entire scene. He was intensely coaching every pitch, this raised the coach’s intensity as if he needed to do more coaching, or chirping. Other fans perked up. Now a pitch on the outside corner called a strike gets a reaction. On this occasion the kid hit a two-strike single, but it hit me how easily a combative atmosphere can develop. You take the inherent intensity of sport and add personal politics and you have potential conflict. Now if you add in the non-player character, the umpire (me), and a strike call on a pitch that may have been a ball, you get the reason many do not want to ever be the umpire. If they only knew how much I wanted to get every call right.
We are asking fans to understand that we are struggling to find umpires and the officials, “have to be coddled.” This is not going to happen. Our only hope is that coaches have spoken to team parents about how to watch the games, how to support the team, and what to expect during the game.
New umpires must receive training. When I signed up to umpire I got a friendly email from the baseball assigner. Next, I got a text saying, “Are you going to accept the game I assigned you?” That was how I started. I found some gear at a second hand sports shop and ordered some generic umpire shirts from Amazon. I read what I could about mechanics online, then loaded up and went to Deming for JV baseball. Game 1 went great on the bases, then, for game two I geared up and got behind the plate. The visiting coach, obviously not understanding how starved for umpires we were, said, “We need some consistency back there, Blue!” I couldn’t help but think, “Consistent to what?” I wish he knew how badly I wanted to do well.
To find a new umpire, you have to find one with the time, the love of sports, the temperament, and some ability. We are asking the new umps to shell out $400 for gear, minimum, and learn on the fly. Remember how frustrating having a new job was? Most umpires are very helpful to rookies, most but not all. Every umpire brings his or her own experiences to the park and it really isn’t their job to teach the new guy during a game.
The NMAA has done a good job recruiting officials, waiving fees the first year, and supporting officials. My assigners did a great job of putting me in good situations and encouraging me, but they are the ones who really feel the stress of not having enough bodies. Coaches are truly the stewards of our game and I encourage them to be great at learning the game, imparting knowledge to assistants and players, and teaching about the role of umpires. The best way to learn about this role, is to officiate yourself.
To be continued....
Related
Moore: Thunderstruck. Music in the Weight Room
Moore: The Hated Early Morning Workout
Moore: The "C Team"
Moore: Quitters
