Anybody here ump high school baseball and other random leagues in Louisiana?

I did this all through college about 15-20 years ago - didn't do too much varsity HS because our assignment secretary thought I was too young. But I did a crap ton of JV and Metro games, and a bunch of Babe Ruth games, all the way down to some 9-10 year old youth league games.

It kept me in good shape, sharp, and there aren't too many places a college student, in the late 90s, could make $25-30 an hour.

Most of the JV and Metro coaches were pretty cool. You had a few idiots. The Babe Ruth and Youth league coaches kinda varied - some nice smart ones, and a fair number of daddy coaches who have no idea.

This was before the explosion of travel ball though. I worked a lot of tournaments but they were mainly the traditional all-star team type tournaments, not this USSSA stuff.

I think we have a few officials on this board who can chime in. The two things I remember are to have a thick skin and to sell the close calls.

Just need thick skin. No matter what, someone is going to complain. More than likely, both sides are going to complain and think you're an idiot.

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Kids and coaches are great. Parents are terrible.

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This x100. With some exceptions of course. That goes for all leagues starting with little league.

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Kids and coaches are great. Parents are terrible.

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At the HS level, kids and coaches are pretty decent most of the time. At that level, the parents are better (much better) than the travel ball parents.

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At the HS level, kids and coaches are pretty decent most of the time. At that level, the parents are better (much better) than the travel ball parents.

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It seems like the parents get better as the kids get older. It's probably because when they're younger, the parents haven't figured out how much their kids suck yet.

By the time varsity hits, they probably had to make it through freshman and JV already so the expectations have normalized.

I’ve been umpiring USSSA travel ball for the past 5-6 seasons. I usually umpire every weekend from mid February to mid July. I also go out of town for a week 2-3 times in June and July to umpire one of the “World Series.” Typically, I make about $400-$500 on a weekend and depending on the age group of the World Series, any where from $500 to $2,000.

As others have said, you must have thick skin and be able to ignore a lot of stuff said to you. Just hustle at all times and show the parents and coaches that you are giving max effort and it will reduce the shite the parents and coaches give you.

Edit to say, I will be umpiring high school ball for the first time this season and I’m looking forward to it.

yes please get in ---- need more good baseball umpires

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Baseball parents are the fricking worst.

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nope not even in top 3

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It seems like the parents get better as the kids get older. It's probably because when they're younger, the parents haven't figured out how much their kids suck yet.

By the time varsity hits, they probably had to make it through freshman and JV already so the expectations have normalized.

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the craziness in the 6,7 and 8th grades is because parents start doing the math and see their kid on the outside looking in and can't deal with it.

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I do HS.. I have no desire to do travel ball except in the case when one of two tournament directors I have a lot of respect for are in a jam.. then I go help them....

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How busy do you stay doing high school?