Lack of Consistency in the Mission, may slow competitive growth in Fastpitch Softball
FPN Staff
As I sat on a plane yesterday flying home from a National Qualifying event pondering if I wanted to write about the experience, one thing dawned on me. Softball lacks consistency on a variety of levels. This consistency could lead to slow growth and or in the overall quality of the experience. Of course there are several specific things that happened this weekend that made me think of this, and some things I have noticed since covering the sport in general. The following is an opinion I have formed based on observing the game.
The first problem I see is that there are numerous organizations that are competing with one another. Competition is generally a good thing and in this case it is, but it also brings some unwanted or rather unneeded issues. The problem is that each organization plays by different rules. This can be confusing for players, coaches and of course the fans. Remember fans are what will elevate the sport to the next level. If fans have a hard time keeping track of the rules, they are far less likely to follow the sport. It would be nice to see a rule set that applied to all organizations. I will regress to point out several things that I observed this past weekend to frame the overall point better.
I am intentionally leaving off some of the specific details. This is not intended to attack a group or an organization, but rather to serve as a basis for points that I will make later.
I traveled out of state this past weekend to watch a competitive 16U qualifier. When a team is traveling a great distance it is reasonable to have a base level expectation that the facility and fields are safe and well maintained, that the dimensions of the fields are checked and things such as bases and the rubber are at the appropriate distance etc… Unfortunately this was not the case in said event. The fields were not safe and the rubber was placed at the wrong distance for the first three rounds of games. Nobody had bothered to actually measure the distances before the event started. I am of the opinion that if you are going to hold a qualifier that there should be some kind of checklist that is considered before an organization is awarded the event. Also that once awarded an event, certain things must be done in accordance with that organizations policies for governing such events. This was clearly not the case this past weekend.
One important thing is having a fair, fun and competitive event. It is important that the umpires hired have a firm grasp of whatever the stated rules are for the tournament. I want to make one thing very clear, it is my belief that the job of the umpire in softball or baseball is to “Call” a game. Their job is not to “Control” a game, which one of the umpires at this event actually stated. These are two very different things.
Arguing balls and strikes is something that really should never be done. There is a time where a coach may need to say something and that is when a strike zone dramatically changes for no reason in the middle of a game and to the point that the only strike is the one thrown right across the center of the plate. This actually can become dangerous for pitchers of both teams if the strike zone is shrunk. Good hitters will hit the ball hard and often right back up the middle, this is what they are trained to do and these hits can often times hit the opposing pitcher. Again let’s remember that the job of the ump is to call the game, not change it or influence it.
It is also inappropriate for an umpire to approach an opposing coach in between innings and complain about the other coach, despite the fact that the umpire and coach may know one another. Umpires should be held to a level of professionalism and there should be checks and balances in place prior to an event to address unprofessional umpires and coaches. Furthermore there should also be clear guidelines as to the behavior expectations of the players and parents. Umpires in no circumstance should berate, demean or call names to or at parents, especially the umpire who was perceived to be the head umpire. This happened this weekend as well. What made the scene even more concerning is that the umpire was berating the parent and was actually incorrect on his own knowledge of the rule in question, but carried on with the name calling and yelling as the parent sat there in silence. The umpire was even laughing about his show of perceived “power”. Finally, it is unprofessional for a coach to tell an umpire “thanks for that, I will buy the drinks tonight” (see above strike zone discussion). Not only was that unprofessional, what message does it send to the players themselves? How does such behavior advance the game? These are the questions I have.
The reason for pointing these things out is simple. The mission of any organization should be about the players, not the parents, coaches or even more so the umpires. The game is about the athletes and the development of the athletes. It should not be about money or ego it should be about the love of the game. Reading through the mission statements of the varying organizations I believe that to be their goal. The question is, what is being done to assure people are striving towards that mission.
The national organization that put their name on this event should know when their mission is not being met, those who stray from the mission should be held accountable. I certainly hope that umpires that behaved in such a poor and unprofessional manner are. But based on what I saw and heard I would be hard pressed to believe anything more than a good laugh was shared between the director and the umpires. It was clear that this group did not understand the mission, and to be frank could have cared less. The following is a direct quote of the Mission Statement that sponsored this tournament”… pursues a standard of excellence on and off the field, for players, coaches and umpires.” This was not the case.
Moving forward it would be nice to see a standard across the board and across the country for each organization to assure that this game is and will always be about the young athletes who work very hard each and every day.
On a positive note the athletes from all the teams carried themselves with poise and played hard. It was fun to see highly competitive games with good players and coaches. They did their job and I for one was impressed. Unfortunately the officials of the event did not adhere to the same high level of competency the players and coaches displayed.
This is just a personal opinion and blog created to generate discussions on issues that can improve the sport.
