Part XVI of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! You’ve just gotta love “complainers”, especially when we’re talking about organizations like recreational town youth sports leagues that are run by volunteers. In typical youth baseball leagues, there are a group of people who not only coach teams, but also run the…

Part XV of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! In a summer all-star-travel team playoff elimination game of fifteen-year olds, two evenly matched teams played a very close game, in front of a large crowd of parents, family and friends. In the bottom of the seventh and final inning, the home…

Part XIV of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! A long time ago (but NOT in a galaxy far, far away) I was the manager for my son’s eleven-year old summer all-star travel team. We had a tough season, finishing with a dismal record of 3-11. Ironically, one of our three…

Part XIII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! After umpiring a game of 11 year olds, four very large, very angry dads, parents of players whose team had just blown a ten run lead to lose the game, yelled for me to come over to them because they wanted to…

Part XII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! Here’s a couple of sticky situations that have happened to me during my illustrious umpiring career: Next time I’ll talk about a game I umpired where I needed a police officer to protect me from angry parents who genuinely thought I was…

Part XI of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! Here are some situations where misbehaving adults in youth sports make life miserable for others: 1) How about one coach challenging another coach to a fight in the middle of a game? 2)How about coaches or parents screaming at umpires whenever they…

Part X of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! When parents or coaches “lose it and go ballistic” during a youth baseball game, what happens? Lots of things, and none of them are good. For example, let’s say in a ten-year old’s game, the score was tied, and on a close…

Part VIIII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! Since I have a degree in Psychology, let me “analyze” why some parents and coaches behave like lunatics during baseball games or other youth sports. First, let me be clear that the overwhelming majority of parents and coaches are great people. All…

Part VIII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! So why is winning youth baseball games so damn important to parents and coaches, when all the kids playing care about is having fun? Why are some parents and coaches (who are also usually parents of players) so hell bent on winning…

Part VII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! Why do parents and coaches (who are often also parents of players) mistreat umpires and referees in youth games so badly that they decide to stop officiating? The reasons are many: Parents: Many don’t consider having their child play on a team…