So since the start of fall season I have been videoing and posting my daughter's team's games to YouTube. The players, parents and coaches seem to like it because they can pull good plays off the video and review how they did and maybe what they need to improve on. For those of us who just love softball it's just fun to be able to watch your kid play. Those cold winter nights are coming soon and it will be nice to see a little bit of summer in the winter too. I have noticed a great increase in the number of teams videoing and always the cameras are behind the backstop attached to the fence or, in my case, against the fence. Which leads me to a situation that occurred today.
Last game of the day is about to start and the umpires are looking for the person who has the GoPro setup. That would be me. I go behind home plate and the home plate umpire tells me I can't have the camera there. This was the first time anyone had ever made an issue of it so I was surprised. As I'm moving the camera I said (as close as I can remember) "this is amazing, I have never had an issue before this" to which the umpire said "do you want to go too? I can make that happen" At that point I should have just shut up and moved the camera but me being me I said "you really like that power thing you've got going there" That was it. Boom! I'm tossed. I walked to the outfield and hid behind a tree but he spotted me and stopped the game until I was safely out to the parking lot. All in all it was fairly comical and the other parents were busting on me pretty hard because to anyone outside of a five foot radius from where this took place it did not appear as if anything had happened.
My question is this: do I or anyone else have a right to video the game from behind the backstop? It sure seems there are hundreds of videos on YouTube from that vantage point. Assuming a person does not just want to say "yes sir, no sir" when an unreasonable position is being taken what do you do? I sincerely believe we as softball parents and coaches have a right to video our kids. Is it OK for a parent to stand behind home plate with an iPhone pointed at their kid? I see that every game. I don't get what the big deal is. Have ASA of any other organization come out on this?
Like I said really not an earth shattering issue but it did seem to me like the umpire overstepped in this case.
Last game of the day is about to start and the umpires are looking for the person who has the GoPro setup. That would be me. I go behind home plate and the home plate umpire tells me I can't have the camera there. This was the first time anyone had ever made an issue of it so I was surprised. As I'm moving the camera I said (as close as I can remember) "this is amazing, I have never had an issue before this" to which the umpire said "do you want to go too? I can make that happen" At that point I should have just shut up and moved the camera but me being me I said "you really like that power thing you've got going there" That was it. Boom! I'm tossed. I walked to the outfield and hid behind a tree but he spotted me and stopped the game until I was safely out to the parking lot. All in all it was fairly comical and the other parents were busting on me pretty hard because to anyone outside of a five foot radius from where this took place it did not appear as if anything had happened.
My question is this: do I or anyone else have a right to video the game from behind the backstop? It sure seems there are hundreds of videos on YouTube from that vantage point. Assuming a person does not just want to say "yes sir, no sir" when an unreasonable position is being taken what do you do? I sincerely believe we as softball parents and coaches have a right to video our kids. Is it OK for a parent to stand behind home plate with an iPhone pointed at their kid? I see that every game. I don't get what the big deal is. Have ASA of any other organization come out on this?
Like I said really not an earth shattering issue but it did seem to me like the umpire overstepped in this case.