competitive little kid sports

[Cartierfor3]

I reffed volleyball and basketball also this year, can't remember if I mentioned. Basketball is hard to ref!

basketball is much easier to imo because you can set your tone/tolerance level and just roll with it.  consistency is key.  baseball is more black and white, right or wrong.

i’ve obviously earned my keep doing both at different times throughout my life.

I might be thinking basketball is tougher just because I have 100x more experience in baseball.

[pissclams]

I reffed volleyball and basketball also this year, can't remember if I mentioned. Basketball is hard to ref!

basketball is much easier to imo because you can set your tone/tolerance level and just roll with it.  consistency is key.  baseball is more black and white, right or wrong.

i’ve obviously earned my keep doing both at different times throughout my life.

I might be thinking basketball is tougher just because I have 100x more experience in baseball.

for sure that plays into it.

with baseball, there’s really very little room for any shades of gray.  a foul ball is a foul ball, the runner is either safe or not.

no one expects a basketball official to call everything, they don’t want the official to call everything- especially in youth hoops.  so, setting the tone for what you’re going to call, and then remaining consistent, will generally be acceptable by all parties.

the strike zone is one exception where it too can be different from night to night, umpire to umpire.  i watch 11 year olds play at the J and the zone is essentially anything vertically from 5’ high to the ground and horizontally as long as it’s anywhere near the plate.  i appreciate the officials pushing the kids to swing the bat.

[steve dave]

A thing I appreciate from baseball umps is being open to a plate meeting to discuss a rule and also willing to overturn their original call based on rules. Also when we have two blues being willing to let the other blue pow wow with them and overturn their call. Most do both of these things very well. Also I absolutely adore the very professional kid umps. Like some HS kid has mastered the craft and talks like an adult and is confident in his calls. Incredible people.


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[steve dave]

We also often will talk to the kid blues about their strike zone after the game. Not quality of calls but size of it for our age/level. Helping them get it dialed in.


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[steve dave]

The only thing we ever do with balls and strikes is yell “lil sd, where was that one?” And he knows to look over, shrug, and yell back “RIGHT DOWN THE PIPE”. Also lil sd will hold a called ball he thinks was a strike for an excessive amount of time to make them look at it and think about what they’ve done. Baseball rules guys.


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[steve dave]

The other day we played my coworkers team and had a bang bang call at first that was probably ours that they called the other kid safe but no big deal. My buddy was 1B coach and I yelled “little help with that one Lemaster!?” as a joke and the blue warned me and told me I’d watch the game from the parking lot and between innings I explained the coach was my buddy and we had a chuckle and I was like “jfc dude settle down” but only in my head because that parking lot is boring.


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[steve dave]

We play in Des Moines this weekend and rented out a couple areas at a pickleball place and a court for the boys for Saturday afternoon after pool play. They are going to be so rough ridin' gassed for bracket play, lmao. Going to get wrecked by some crap team game 1 probably.




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[Stupid Fitz]

We play in Des Moines this weekend and rented out a couple areas at a pickleball place and a court for the boys for Saturday afternoon after pool play. They are going to be so rough ridin' gassed for bracket play, lmao. Going to get wrecked by some crap team game 1 probably.




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Ha, we did this last year. We went to St Louis and played in a tourney (Lil SF got team MVP  ). We kicked the crap out of teams in pool play. We went to city museum and the kids were in the hotel pool and messing around in each others rooms having a ball all weekend. Made it to the championship of bracket play and they were rough ridin' gassed. Got beat by a team we crushed in pool play. 

Also those were the good old days. The Lil guy is on like the back seat where all the weird kids sit on the struggle bus. He just can't put it together this year. Little bastard just mashes and has a short quick swing in the back yard, but during games he is just a mess sometimes. Driving me nuts. Its just weird as he's not really even getting overmatched. He's actually been much better against better and faster pitchers, but he just can't get anything going consistently. I've seen him do it so I know he can play. I just feel so bad for him when he struggles. Being a parent blows ass sometimes. He handles it like a champ though, which is awesome.

[Cartierfor3]

A thing I appreciate from baseball umps is being open to a plate meeting to discuss a rule and also willing to overturn their original call based on rules. Also when we have two blues being willing to let the other blue pow wow with them and overturn their call. Most do both of these things very well. Also I absolutely adore the very professional kid umps. Like some HS kid has mastered the craft and talks like an adult and is confident in his calls. Incredible people.


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There are so many weird rules that it just takes time. Biggest ones that get you in trouble as an umpire are obstruction plays because you are going to have an argument whatever you call

[meow meow]

We play in Des Moines this weekend and rented out a couple areas at a pickleball place and a court for the boys for Saturday afternoon after pool play. They are going to be so rough ridin' gassed for bracket play, lmao. Going to get wrecked by some crap team game 1 probably.




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we go to that same place when we play in Des Moines for soccer

[steve dave]

A thing I appreciate from baseball umps is being open to a plate meeting to discuss a rule and also willing to overturn their original call based on rules. Also when we have two blues being willing to let the other blue pow wow with them and overturn their call. Most do both of these things very well. Also I absolutely adore the very professional kid umps. Like some HS kid has mastered the craft and talks like an adult and is confident in his calls. Incredible people.


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There are so many weird rules that it just takes time. Biggest ones that get you in trouble as an umpire are obstruction plays because you are going to have an argument whatever you call

I don’t think we’ve had an infield fly called correctly in the last 3 years. Also half the blues aren’t aware that a bounced pitch gloved and resulting in a swinging strike 3 is still an uncaught ball and the runner can try for first.


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[KST8FAN]

Enjoying the umpire talk.  I refereed basketball one winter in exchange for a ymca membership. It's the most stressful thing I've ever done.  Always treated our officials with appreciation since it's a tough job. If there was an issue, make your point and move on.

Having said that, only had one run in with a baseball umpire.  He wasn't a kid, but adult who appeared to have  done a lot of games.

Early in the game, we had a play involving a rules interpretation.  We asked for field supervisor who overruled this guy.

Now you can tell this umpire is agitated for the next couple of innings. 

Later in the game, our pitcher is batting and grounds out.  We're in 3B dugout, no one picks up our P glove and hat.  So I grab them and meet the kid between mound and 3B line.   I told the kid, shake it off and go get em on the mound.  The umpire raises his hand and announces, "Coach, that's your first mound visit." 

Like WtF.


Tom

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[steve dave]

lmao


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[Stupid Fitz]

That's two first place tourney wins in a row!!! The boys are playing really well right now. We've finally caught up with some of the competitive teams that play year round. This weekend was incredible. Not because we whipped the absolute crap out of everyone, but because for the first time in the history of 11U baseball tournament play, every game we played started either early or on time. Also, not one game hit the time limit. It freaking ruled.

[ChiComCat]

My nephew's 14U team has a CF that throws people tagging from third out all the time.  My nephew is the catcher and gets to tag the poor shmucks that think they're getting an easy run.  It's been fun to watch.

[Stupid Fitz]

My nephew's 14U team has a CF that throws people tagging from third out all the time.  My nephew is the catcher and gets to tag the poor shmucks that think they're getting an easy run.  It's been fun to watch.

That is fun to watch. We played a team with a great CF this weekend. He charged 2 line drives on short hops and got a force at 2nd once and almost again another time. Also had one full out diving catch. He was impressive.

[nicname]

My nephew's 14U team has a CF that throws people tagging from third out all the time.  My nephew is the catcher and gets to tag the poor shmucks that think they're getting an easy run.  It's been fun to watch.

That is fun to watch. We played a team with a great CF this weekend. He charged 2 line drives on short hops and got a force at 2nd once and almost again another time. Also had one full out diving catch. He was impressive.

During our first game our beefy first baseman hit a rocket to RF and was thrown out at first. Super embarrassing, but those all-turf fields are fast AF.

Not as embarrassing as all the fat old dudes getting thrown out by an ex-college softball outfielder (from right center) during a beer-league tournament last summer. This chick was absolutely the best female outfielder I’ve ever witnessed. She was making EVERY play, and with ease… and half drunk. It was really quite something.

[Spracne]

You guys are making me want to play baseball, again. But I know all my bones would fall apart.

[Stupid Fitz]

You guys are making me want to play baseball, again. But I know all my bones would fall apart.

Ha, I was helping out in practice a while back. They were working on a drill that focused on scoring the guy on third. Basically make contact past the pitcher so he scores. I was in the outfield and one of the kids hit a pop fly and I threw a dart home and nailed a kid. I was pretty proud of my old ass until about 12 seconds later when I felt the, "you're a huge dumbass" pain in my shoulder. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. I was sure i'd be dealing with that for a while and was so pissed at myself.

[ChiComCat]

You guys are making me want to play baseball, again. But I know all my bones would fall apart.

Ha, I was helping out in practice a while back. They were working on a drill that focused on scoring the guy on third. Basically make contact past the pitcher so he scores. I was in the outfield and one of the kids hit a pop fly and I threw a dart home and nailed a kid. I was pretty proud of my old ass until about 12 seconds later when I felt the, "you're a huge dumbass" pain in my shoulder. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. I was sure i'd be dealing with that for a while and was so pissed at myself.

I was warming up my nephew and struggled some to keep up while giving the 70-80% effort necessary to avoid injury.

[Spracne]

You guys are making me want to play baseball, again. But I know all my bones would fall apart.

Ha, I was helping out in practice a while back. They were working on a drill that focused on scoring the guy on third. Basically make contact past the pitcher so he scores. I was in the outfield and one of the kids hit a pop fly and I threw a dart home and nailed a kid. I was pretty proud of my old ass until about 12 seconds later when I felt the, "you're a huge dumbass" pain in my shoulder. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. I was sure i'd be dealing with that for a while and was so pissed at myself.

Listen, I have a black eye because I bonked my face on a concrete floor trying to pick up a 45 pound (didn't know at the time) box of cat litter. I have zero illusions about my remaining athletic prowess.

[nicname]

You guys are making me want to play baseball, again. But I know all my bones would fall apart.

Ha, I was helping out in practice a while back. They were working on a drill that focused on scoring the guy on third. Basically make contact past the pitcher so he scores. I was in the outfield and one of the kids hit a pop fly and I threw a dart home and nailed a kid. I was pretty proud of my old ass until about 12 seconds later when I felt the, "you're a huge dumbass" pain in my shoulder. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. I was sure i'd be dealing with that for a while and was so pissed at myself.

I was warming up my nephew and struggled some to keep up while giving the 70-80% effort necessary to avoid injury.

I can’t keep up with a single kid on our team in longtoss anymore 14 and 15 year olds). Still more accurate than they are around the infield tho, and rarely lose at “21.” Even after a full warmup I only have one truly hard outfield throw in me and my shoulder is done. Can throw 100-150 bp tosses with ease on a day rest still.

Our head coach is a former longtime college softball coach and his underhand front toss is insane! I’ve never seen anything like it.

Last year I bruised my heel and it took until two months after the season for it to fully heal.

[Spracne]

This little sidebar we have should be xposted to the Signs of Getting Old thread.

[Stupid Fitz]

This little sidebar we have should be xposted to the Signs of Getting Old thread.

To get us back on track, I had a couple of beers in between games this weekend. Was doing Game Changer and one of the moms came up to me and was like. Uh, you are off a batter. For those of you that don't know, getting "off a batter" is like the worst thing when doing Game Changer. If you don't catch it early, you are basically screwed unless someone is Rain Man and remembers everything that happened. Thankfully, she said it soon enough and I figured it out.

[Spracne]

This little sidebar we have should be xposted to the Signs of Getting Old thread.

To get us back on track, I had a couple of beers in between games this weekend. Was doing Game Changer and one of the moms came up to me and was like. Uh, you are off a batter. For those of you that don't know, getting "off a batter" is like the worst thing when doing Game Changer. If you don't catch it early, you are basically screwed unless someone is Rain Man and remembers everything that happened. Thankfully, she said it soon enough and I figured it out.

With the setup, I was expecting a story more like this: