Pet Peeved
So everyone has a few pet peeves. I'm no exception, but tonight mine nearly got the better of me.Since I umpire Pony Boys, which here is ages 11-12, I can't take bad coaches with bad methods. Stupid coaches are one thing, because a lot of the time, the stupid coaches are trying, they just don't know the rules. Stupid coaches can be a bit of a pain but when they encourage the kids, that's not a problem.
It's the bad coaches that really chap my hide. Tonight was no exception. This coach has been coaching his son for the past two summers. Anyways, Lyle and his team were hanging out watching the end of the first game, when in reality they should have been warming their arms up. So the first game is over and his team goes out into the OF and warms up a little. That's still not too bad but what killed me was what he did with his pitcher.
Pitcher's arms are sometimes fragile, especially at this age. Warm up is critical for developing young arms. Instead of ever having his pitcher warm up like the other coaches do, Lyle does exactly what a coach shouldn't. He makes the pitcher take infield with the rest of the team. Never throws a warm up pitch. Not one. You think the kid could find the strike zone? Oh heck no. I was in disbelief.
Lyle also got a kid thrown out at home and then said it was the kid's fault for not running around the catcher. What Lyle had done was send this kid from third as the ball trickled from the shortstop to the pitcher who was backing it up. The runner was dead by about 30 feet. I looked at my base ump between innings and said "WTF was he doing sending him?" and LVG just laughed.
There has never been a positive thing coming out of his mouth. One kid made a great catch in left field and what came out of Lyle was "Um nice catch, but you needed to be doing blah blah blah." These kids are at an age when the need to be taught and encouraged. Sure they're going to make mistakes, but you have to teach the kids how to do it right, rather than berate them for doing it wrong.
It's almost enough to make me coach.
posted by Rusty @ 9:07 PM
Comments: 1
