Everyone Is Working Their Way Back In To Form, Including Our Umpires

With great anticipation, all our coaches, players and fans came to the ballpark on Sunday ready to play. You welcomed the chance to take the field after weeks of practice — and, in some cases, following a summer of travel ballgames, too. The excitement and enthusiasm are widespread, and we welcome the engagement of all our families and fans.

On the flip side, Sunday marked the first time many of our umpires have taken the field since last fall. The extended offseason prevented their chance to have on-the-field experiences and COVID-19 has limited some of the pre-season training and development. While players have been knocking off the rust in their game the past few weeks, the umpire crew received their first chance to work their way back to top-notch form with their mechanics and execution yesterday.

We encourage much grace and patience from all our coaches and fans as we afford the umpire crew the same training opportunities as your ballplayers and teams have been afforded the past weeks during practice settings. By doing so, we can all work together to contribute lots of cheers and exciting plays on game days in a very memorable and positive environment. Please remain focused on the big picture and help build up each and every player, coach, fan and umpire. Here’s an important reminder about The OYO Way!

Know Your Part – And Approach It Positively

How we handle ourselves when we interact with players, fans, opposing teams and umpires — and how we manage ourselves as fans and coaches when we get excited over a call or play — is critical. It will make all the difference between positive memories and life lessons that will have these young baseball and softball players continue playing for years to come or that will scare them away from a game they have truly enjoyed during the rec season — and waited long enough for another chance to play following the cancellation of our spring season.

So, what’s your role? Umpires umpire, coaches coach, players play, and fans cheer.

Choose Words, Actions Carefully

It is important to remember if a coach or fan demonstrates disrespectful actions toward an umpire or opposing team member, then the coach runs the risk of being ejected by an umpire and/or the fan being removed by the advisor on duty (AOD). Yes, coaches are responsible for their fans. Please work together to make this a memorable experience for the players!

Make a difference by praising publicly, critiquing privately.

Thanks again for all you have done — and will continue to do all season — for OYO’s umpires, ballplayers and families!