*POLL~ COACHES~ How would you like this get handled...

[radness]

Coaches how would you like this get handled.
You have unruly obnoxious loud chiming parent or parents in the stands. To the point where the umpire wants to comment about it.
(coach you may or may not already be aware of loud parent/fans OR that it's a problem)

Would you rather the Umpire
1. Come to you Coach immediately about it first?
Or
2. Umpire talks directly to your parents or fans first?

 

[_MIA_]

Depends...If it is DW then I let the ump do it..

 

[ANNASDAD]

Depends...If it is DW then I let the ump do it..

Haha, end poll now, it's ruined!

 

[turtler12]

prefer them coming to the coach first... parents (typically) are willing to listen to me and the ump confronting the crowd can end up escalating matters IMO

 

[HunterMO]

prefer them coming to the coach first... parents (typically) are willing to listen to me and the ump confronting the crowd can end up escalating matters IMO

I tend to agree with this. I’d hope the parents have enough respect for the coach it would make for a quicker resolution. If a parent is already chiding an umpire....sometimes it would actually escalate the situation if the umpire addressed it directly.

But I also have no problem with an umpire throwing out a parent who is being outright verbally abusive.

 

[KrisHur]

We have one of those, luckily the coach is on it and she tells him to zip it or watch from the parking lot! Seriously, it's bad to yell at the umps - I don't know what people are thinking when they do it. If there's a bad call (they happen!) = coach's job. Parent's job = cheer on the team.

 

[_MIA_]

Parent's job = cheer on the team.

Parent's main job on game day is to get their kid to the field on time..
My almost 80 YO father played basketball and baseball in college and his immigrant parents didn't go to one
game his whole career (he could ride his bike to the park for youth baseball games)..he survived

 

[radness]

If there's a bad call (they happen!)
= coach's job.
Parent's job = cheer on the team.

⬆!!!!!

 

[gdc03120]

As an umpire (LL for 15 years, HS/travel for going on 4), I was always told, "Crowd control is the coach's problem until it directly becomes your problem." If I've ever had issues with a parent/unruly fan, I usually ignore it the first time UNLESS it's something being said that is threatening or blatantly racist/discriminatory, etc, and then I go straight to the coach, and calmly tell him/her, "Coach, I need you to get your sidelines under control - consider this their warning through you. Next time, I'm sending them myself." I usually let them handle it from there, and at the HS/travel level, I haven't had any issues doing it this way.

At the LL level, on the other hand, it's usually the star player's parent who is chirping too much, and it doesn't often work that they listen to the coach, so when I send them to the parking lot (and the kid, by proxy, gets embarassed), the message is usually received. I've never intentionally looked for a reason to eject a parent whatsoever - they do enough good on their own.

 

[marriard]

BTW - the umpire HAS to go to the coach/team rep/school admin/TD/UIC/etc. This is what we are taught.

So whatever the result of this poll is - it doesn't matter what coaches think- the umpire will be coming your way (or to an appropriate official).



No umpire worth anything should be attempting to handle anything with a spectator. I barely acknowledge spectators even exist.

While it has never escalated this far in a game I have officiated; we are told to handle everything through the coach or team/school/UIC/TD officials. If they refuse to handle it; then play won't start. If it continues and there is now a need for the spectator to be removed, the game won't start again until it happens.