LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALLSOFTBALL

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LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL/SOFTBALL

• HANDLING SITUATIONS

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Handling Situations

• Everything in Little League Baseball/Softball
  matters. to someone

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Philosophy

• Handling Situations starts with preparation
• Umpires must be calm and in control of every
  event.
• Remember Managers, coaches and players eject
  themselves!

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Philosophy - continued

• Trouble will find you without you having to go
  look for it.
• Dont be
• Overly Aggressive
• Confrontational
• Angry
• Short Tempered
• Nervous/Tense
• Nonchalant
• Lazy

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Philosophy - continued

• Situation Management starts before a pitch is
  thrown
• Do
• Have good presence
• Be approachable
• Have a cordial disposition
• Show positive body language
• Be focused
• Hustle

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Off Field Preparation

• Self Confidence
• Rules Knowledge
• Little League Mechanics
• Watch and Learn
• Self-Evaluation
• Appearance
• (Appearance Example)

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• Every Little League umpire is expected to have a
  mastery or at least a working knowledge of the
  rules and mechanics.
• So, the difference between the regular season and
  tournament season umpire is how you handle the
  situations.

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Situation Management

• Pre-game
• Establishes crew comfort level
• Discuss possible situations (history)
• Line-up Exchange Meeting
• Sets the tone
• Business like Friendly not Familiar
• Anticipate Situations
• Bench jockeying
• Trips to the mound
• Back to back home runs
• Showboating

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GAINING RESPECT

• Gained through hard work dedication
• Handling situations in a fair, firm
  professional manner.
• If an ejection is warranted, respect may be
  gained
• If an ejection is not warranted, respect will be
  difficult to come by
• Know when to become assertive
• Becoming assertive too soon/too late is a
  downfall of many umpires

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EXAMPLES OF BEING ASSERTIVE

• Too many batters out of the dugout!
• Do we let it go and hope it goes away?
• Do we take care of it immediately?
• Too many players out of the dugout visiting Mom
  in the stands
• Do we let it go and hope it goes away?
• Do we take care of it immediately?

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How Assertive When?

• You Kick a call!
• You may allow more of an argument
• Assert yourself later rather than earlier
• Your call is close, but you are correct!
• Because the call is close, you may allow a
  discussion
• Assert yourself earlier rather than later

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GETTING HELP

• Do we need to get help on every play that is
  close?
• NO! Bang Bang plays are not for getting help.
• Plays that are in question, strive to get the
  Call right.
• TIMING !!!

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Handling Discussions

• Umpires must manage discussions with
  managers/coaches
• Use the 20 second rule
• Listen!
• Think about your Body Language
• Posture
• Hands
• Make eye contact
• Control your voice level
• Let em Go!

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HANDLING SITUATIONS

• Limit situations to One on One
• Deal with the Manager
• Try to get person calmed down
• LISTEN
• Get game resumed ASAP
• Scenario 1

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HANDLING SITUATIONS

• Try to keep person in game
• Issue a warning (If warranted)
• When issuing warning, be FIRM STRONG
• Use appropriate language. Foul language can
  cause nothing but problems
• Avoid sarcasm
• Avoid Having the last word
• Scenario 2

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Summary

• Have confidence
• Anticipate situations
• Be proactive
• Stay calm
• Think first, listen, think again, then talk
• Let em have the last word!
• Know when to say Youre gone

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Summary

• If players are mediocre, the result is mediocre
  baseball. If umpires are mediocre, the result is
  chaos.
• George Will, Newsweek February 17, 2004