Questions if you coach / have coached youth baseball

[Scotty_Ump]

Open to everybody but I'm particularly interested here in feedback from both coaches on this site and officials here who also coach / have coached youth baseball.

 

1. Do you try to remember officials' names at the plate meeting and call them by name during the game (instead of "ump" or "blue")? Why or why not?

 

2. Do you teach your players to call officials by their first names or by a generic title like "sir" (instead of "ump" or "blue")? Why or why not?
    
3. Does it matter to you if an official calls you by name or only addresses you as "coach" throughout the game? Why or why not?
    
4. Do you find officials have a more positive relationship (generally defined as more "deferential and respectful" vs. "argumentative and confrontational") with you and your players during a game - or throughout a season - when first names are used either by you towards officials or by officials towards you.

[Kevin_K]

42 minutes ago, Scotty_Ump said:

Open to everybody but I'm particularly interested here in feedback from both coaches on this site and officials here who also coach / have coached youth baseball.

 

1. Do you try to remember officials' names at the plate meeting and call them by name during the game (instead of "ump" or "blue")? Why or why not?

The 

1. Do you teach your players to call officials by their first names or by a generic title like "sir" (instead of "ump" or "blue")? Why or why not?
    
2. Does it matter to you if an official calls you by name or only addresses you as "coach" throughout the game? Why or why not?
    
3. Do you find officials have a more positive relationship (generally defined as more "deferential and respectful" vs. "argumentative and confrontational") with you and your players during a game - or throughout a season - when first names are used either by you towards officials or by officials towards you.

#1, 3, and 4 are inter-related. My experience has been that by using names there is a more personal connection between head coaches and umpires. Treating each other as human beings tends to dampen the desire to act like a jackass toward another person. That doesn't mean all coaches and all umpires are approachable, sentient, analytical, and/or self aware when they are addressed by their name rather than their position.

Kids should always respect the officials and terms like sir and Mr. Umpire are far more appropriate than a first name. As players age and use razors on a more regular basis, first names become more appropriate.

YMMV

[kylehutson]

Youth baseball: "Coach" and "Blue" are perfectly acceptable, especially for those tournaments where you might see several in a day. I still try to call my coaches (and catchers) by their first names, but I don't get upset if they don't remember mine.

As I've moved up, I find that at higher levels, there is more respect, and as @Kevin_K said, that means first names, especially for those that we're working directly with (coaches and catchers). In high school varsity, I always call coaches by their first names, and 90+% of the time, they address me by mine.[1]

In college, if a coach calling me anything other than my name would be unacceptable.

[1] Just this last week, I had a first. A high school second-baseman called me by my name when asking if I could move. This was a local school and I knew a couple of the kids on the team since they were little tikes, but didn't know him.

[The Man in Blue]

I'm an outlier.  A lifetime of customer service work, 15+ years in public relations ... four kids, a wife, 100+ students ...

You are coach or catch, and I am blue.  I got no room in my head nor do I care if you call me by name.  Blue is just fine.  Yes, using names humanizes us, but it also makes us a little too familiar when I am there to do a job as a neutral arbiter.  It makes you feel as if my position doesn't need as much respect, while I still feel yours does.  It makes you feel like you can get away with a little more if you call me by name.  I don't socialize at the backstop, so why would I do it on the field?

Tonight I was on the bases and had a group sitting down the first base line who knew me.  A couple of them had coached with me.  They had a pool going to see if they could get me to turn around or react.