officials battling foul behavior

By Christian Schmidt

The Natchez Democrat

In 1984, a Little League umpire in Vidalia sued two men for more than $1 million dollars after they allegedly attacked him after a game, and officials say the behavior of some parents at game has been a problem for a long time.

Those men were apparently upset about a call the umpire made.

&uot;I think every ballpark has problems with (civility),&uot; Ferriday Dixie Youth Commissioner Gary Hinton said. &uot;I think things have gotten worse over the years in respect to that.&uot;

Clarence Bowlin, the long-time head of Natchez Dixie Youth, agreed with Hinton.

&uot;Some parents come to the ballpark and tell me they come out just to holler at umpires,&uot; Bowlin said. &uot;I say, ‘Don’t come if that’s what you’re going to do.’&uot;

Parents yelling at umpires and other parents is a problem little league and other sports programs, have to deal with too often, Bowlin said. The loss in civility at such games has been an alarming trend, and many youth sports programs across the country have instituted codes of conduct for parents and coaches.

Hinton instructs the coaches in his league on what behavior will be tolerated and asks them to enforce that with their fans. &uot;At our meetings, I tell all officials and coaches that they have to control fans and to remind them that we are out here for the children,&uot; Hinton said. &uot;We’re not out here for us. If a parent gets to acting up and hollering and screaming, they need to remind them they’re not setting a good example for kids.&uot;

Hinton said he has only had one such problem this season and one last season. &uot;Once people are in the program a year or two, they find out we’re not going to put up with it,&uot; Hinton said. &uot;If somebody is yelling at an umpire, the umpire tells the coach to control his fans. If that doesn’t work, the umpire will go straight to the fan.

&uot;After that, we’ll just get the police, but I don’t think we’ve ever had to do that. Once we talk about the police, it usually stops.&uot;

Sadly, yelling is sometimes just the beginning. Verbal confrontations can get out of hand into full-blown fights. A Little League game earlier this month in Tennessee resulted in the worst possible outcome. Some controversial calls resulted in a group of parents becoming so incensed they stormed the field and began attacking each other.

Fortunately, with a few exceptions, the Miss-Lou has been largely free of physical encounters of this type. &uot;We haven’t had too much problem with that,&uot; Bowlin said. &uot;There have been times when someone got mad at a coach and said something, but mostly that’s it.&uot;

Bowlin blames the problem on the close bond between parents and their children. Parents get too excited about the game and forget normal rules of conduct.

&uot;I can tell you this, you cannot hardly separate parents from children,&uot; Bowlin said. &uot;They’ll always take their side, and that’s understandable. They’ll tell me, ‘My child won’t lie to me,’ and I have to tell them that’s not true.&uot;

Bowlin is quick to point out that most parents are good and make youth sports programs possible.

&uot;This baseball program &045; I’ve been head of it for 45 years. If it wasn’t for parents, this league wouldn’t exist.&uot; Bowlin said. &uot;Most of the coaches are fathers and mothers, and they help out in so many ways. We’re just trying to teach kids what they need to know, not just on the field but also in life.&uot;

Bowlin said such incidents are particularly unfortunate given the nature of youth sports programs, which are designed to teach sportsmanship and be fun for the kids.

&uot;When I first became a national director and went to one of the big tournaments, there were probably 2,000 people there watching,&uot; Bowlin said.

&uot;In about the fourth or fifth inning, this little shortstop went over to the umpire to talk and he called time. The boy ran out of the ballpark and went to the restroom and came back and the umpire said time in. If that’s not meeting all the needs of these kids then I don’t know what else we can do.&uot;