Part VI of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits!

Many youth baseball umpires and referees get their start in their early teens. At that age you usually can’t get a real job, so for young teens that love baseball, umpiring games played by 7/8 year olds is a great way to make money. Many town recreational leagues run umpire training programs where teenagers can work games involving players from 7-12 years old. Youth umpiring programs like these are “the pipeline” where umpires of the future come from. Many recreational soccer, basketball and other leagues run similar youth referee training programs. This is where the “supply chain” for umpires and all youth sports officials begins. They start in their teens, officiating games as a summer or part-time job. When they reach college age, they get certified to become high school officials, and in their 20’s, become the ones to replace their older colleagues who are retiring.

For many years I ran my town’s youth umpiring program. At one time I had so many teenagers wanting to be umpires there simply were not enough games to go around. Unfortunately, too many of these kids would umpire for only a year or two. They’d start with 7/8 year old games, then move to 9/10s, but once they had experience and were ready for more competitive 11/12 year old games, they’d stop umpiring. The reason most gave it up was they didn’t like getting yelled at by parents and coaches who disagreed with calls. Who can blame them? Nobody likes getting yelled at every time someone thinks you made a mistake! If part of the reason why you chose to be a youth sports official was because you thought it would be fun, here’s a news flash. NOBODY thinks getting yelled at is fun, especially if you’re young and new to a job.

Unfortunately, the bad behavior of parents, who are also the coaches in local town leagues, are causing the pipeline of future umpires and referees to run dry. Even though parents and coaches are told not to argue with the young officials, some can’t help themselves, because all that matters to these obnoxious parents and ruthless coaches is winning. These are the people to blame for the shortage of umpires and referees.

---

Randy Corwin is a veteran Massachusetts youth baseball umpire and author of the book, OBNOXIOUS PARENTS AND RUTHLESS COACHES, which is now available at Amazon Books, Barnes and Noble’s online bookstore, and at An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Cafe in Plainville, MA. This post is part six of a series of articles based on the book.