- Nov 29, 2009
- 2,973
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Don't take this the wrong way, seeing as I don't know you...
Are you talking about rec league ball, or travel ball? If it's rec league, then yeah, you're going to find a grab bag of umpires - some know the rules, but many don't. Travel ball should have better umpires, but I've seen plenty of travel ball umpires who could use a rectal craniectomy.
I've been involved with high-level travel ball since my DD was 12, the last 15 without a DD on the team. What I see from a majority of the umpires out there in my area is they will not call obstruction without some type of contact. It's the way it is around here. That's why I coach my players to bump into the defender who is in the way, not level them.
As for protests. The TD's will put in the rules "No Protests." the umpire's decision on the field is final in order to keep the tournaments on time. And I've heard "She didn't make contact." way too often so I coach my teams to try and get the call with a slight bump.
There are many very good umpires out there. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them to go around. So we adapt.