RUOA ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

We have all become painfully aware of the alarming number of cases of violence in youth sports. Fortunately, our umpires have never had an occurrence even remotely similar to any of the local and national stories that have been reported recently.

However, we have become aware of an alarming number of instances in the past year or two of behavior on the part of parents, players and coaches and spectators that we consider completely inappropriate. Most of this inappropriate behavior centers on the verbal abuse of players, coaches and umpires.

This abuse comes in many forms. It’s a parent or coach’s verbal abuse of the opposing team, coach or umpire, or a player’s verbal assault of an umpire or opponent, or in some cases, even arguing amongst players, coaches and parents on the same team. In any form, this behavior is totally unacceptable and an embarrassment to the game of baseball.

We will completely eliminate this type of abuse in 2007 by enforcing a zero tolerance policy. Simply stated, there will be zero tolerance for this type of behavior. If exhibited, there will be zero opportunity for apology and zero opportunity for a second chance. Violation of our zero tolerance policy will result in the person(s) be.

I can assure you our goal as an umpire is not to remove the competitive nature of the sport. A major part of sports is to teach kids about winning, losing, sportsmanship, teamwork and commitment. The thrill of looking forward to the ‘big game’ and the occasional butterflies and upset stomachs that sometimes accompany that game are all part of playing sports competitively. So is winning, losing, errors, missed opportunities, bad umpire calls and coaching mistakes. It’s all part of the process of learning to play competitive team sports - All lessons that have value later in life.

Let us all keep in mind that the competition occurs on the field, between the players, under the strict supervision of the knowledgeable coaches and umpire, following a very specific set of rules for participation and an equally important set of rules for acceptable behavior. Parents, friends and relatives are there to observe and support, not be part of, the competition. For 99% of the participants and parents, this approach should be nothing more than business as usual and exactly what they would expect from (RUOA). It’s the 1% that may have a slightly different agenda that will have the most difficult time adjusting.

Currently, rules cover the conduct of players and coaches during a game. There is no coverage or penalty for coaches or players conduct after a game. As a result, there have been instances of coaches or players, knowing there is no penalty, cursing or threatening umpires after a game. Therefore, effective with the 2007 season, the following shall be in effect for all Tournament games.

In the event of post game behavior by a coach or player that would result in an ejection during a game, the coach or player will be informed by the umpires that his behavior will be reported to the Tournament Director as an ejection. The guilty party would then be subject to a one game suspension or other penalty as determined by the tournament Director. This policy is in effect until the umpires leave the game site.

So as role models lets show all the kids involved we really care.