When Enough is Enough

It is very cold and snowy here in Northern Indiana. It is currently -2 degrees farenheit and dropping. It is a great time for hot chocolate and a book, not so much for calling balls and strikes. The other day, I was going to my favorite coffee shop here in Elkhart for my usual hot chocolate and bagel (toasted with butter). There I ran into a woman sitting at a table with calendars spread out on it. She is the parent of a child that is participating in our church's Upward Basketball program this winter. I went over and we bagan to talk about Upward and other things. We got on the topic of the calendars on her desk. "My son is on more than one basketball team and my daughter is active in soccer and basketball" she stated, "I'm just trying to keep all of the games and teams organized."

That got us into a conversation about young athletes "burning out" on a sport even before they reach high school. It is unbelievable to me how many children who are "superstar" athletes when they are 10, 11, 12 years old, just disappear when they reach high school. This is an issue all over this country and Indiana is definitely not immune to it. There is the school season, an AAU season that is going on at the same time and goes even longer, local YMCA leagues, local schools putting together their own developmental leagues, and countless more, and each one of those leagues are targeting the same kids.

It is no suprise and quite frankly tragic to see it happen and quite frankly, baseball and softball are the two worse offenders of "burning out" kids.

This mother told me that her daughter played 80 softball games this summer. 80! In the 7th grade! What good is that doing for the young athlete trying to learn the game? The mother went on to say the daughter told them at the end of the season that she was on doing this next summer. "I didn't have a summer" was what the girl told them. Can you blame her? I asked a varsity softball coach one evening if playing 80 games at a young age did the players any good. His answer: no. In my opinion, playing that many games, encourages and develops bad habits, especially on the baseball/softball diamond.

There are many reason the IHSAA and other state organizations limit the number of games. One of those reasons is to allow kids to be kids and not play 80 games in a 3 month span.

When is enough, enough for children and teenagers these days? Some parents get wrapped up in getting a college scholarship (to a division 1 school of course) that they forget to take into account the well being of the child. They push kids to play 60, 70, 80 games in a couple months span. It is just unhealthy.

As an official, I set an unofficial limit of 70 games in a spring/summer for myself. After officiating that many games, I am mentally, physically, and emotionally spent. I have no more desire to work baseball games that summer. Fortunately, about this time every year, I get the energy and urge to get back on the diamond. Now think about how tired the athletes (kids mind you) have to feel after playing 70 + games. Using more energy, and traveling much farther than I ever have to do during the season.

I hope and pray that children, teens, parents, and coaches can work together to prevent "burn outs" rather than accelerate the burn out.

News Travels Fast

I was officiating a basketball game last week (this IS Indiana, we have nothing better to do here in the winter other than go to basketball games), and I worked with a gentleman who also officiates baseball in the spring/summer. He and I had a good game but most of pregame and postgame we spent talking about baseball.

He would tell baseball stories and I would tell stories. We then started talking about different people we officiated with. We talked about an officials that we enjoyed working with and even discovered that we both worked with a gentlemen from Anderson. Inevitably we talked about a fellow man in blue that had some serious issues keeping his mouth shut and keeping a "professional" attitude on the field. He had all the skills to be a good baseball official, except for his great ability to "burn bridges." This gentlemen has, for all intents and purposes, quit umpiring because he has burnt so many relationships with other umpires and Athletic Directors.

I learned that he sent a fairly nasty email to a local athletic director about some situation, and that athletic director showed it to another athletic directors who in turn will not hire him this season.

I am writing this as a cautionary tale to all umpires out there. Not only to umpires talk to each other about other umpires, coaches, and AD's, coaches and AD's talk to each other about umpires. It not only will effect your ability to get in to the local state tournament, but if you get a bad enough rap amongst athletic directors, you may be forced out of officiating.

Just be professional, firm but polite on the field, and respectfull to athletic directors (and everyone else for that matter) and you should not have any problems finding work.