By harrasing young umpires we are killing ourselves

We had six 13-15 year old (young men) attend the last umpire clinic we had this spring before the season started. Out of those six, five of them actually continued. The one that didn't continue said he just didn't like it. After the first game of the season one quit. He said he felt like he had 20 clones of his dad in the stands yaking at him and there was zero fun in it. Sounds like he was criticised alot so maybe he was not a good candidate for umpiring to start with. After the second game another quit. He said he was verbaly accosted after a game as he was leaving by a coach and a couple of parents and felt helpless because he could not reply without being disrespectful. To me, it's abuse when you degrade or humiliate a young person when you talk to them like that because you know they can't respond. Midway through the season another quit. He said as much as he liked the umpiring part he could no longer stand the parents yaking at him. While I know an umpire can't have rabbit ears and should be a little thick skinned, these are young men and haven't developed these things as yet. They take the comments more personal. The other three finished the season. Out of the three that finished the season, one said he would not be umping fall ball and probably would not be back for spring. That leaves two out of six or actually two out of five that started the season. Now I have to give (most) of the coaches in our league credit for not giving the young umpires much grief. Weather it's because they know the board has a ZERO tolerance policy for abuse of young umpires or just because these kids are also players and many most of them had been coached at one time or another by these same coaches dosen't matter, the fact is (most) coaches did a good job of not trying to intimidate them. The parents on the other had were relentless in thier criticism from the stands. You would think since they have the same age kids playing they would have better sense. I worked quite a few games with these kids. They do a credible job behind the plate calling balls and strikes. You need to have a little more experience with rules and interpertations of them to do the bases. They learn a lot just watching the veteran umps work the bases. Midway through the season they get thier shot at the bases and start gaining more and more knowledge as situations arise. Will any of this ever change? I don't know. I have raised three boys that all played baseball from t-ball on up. I remember plenty of parents and some coaches giving youg umpires a hard time and yes, even I did sometimes. It wasn't until I started umpiring that I realized how tough it can be. I gained a whole new respect for coaches and umpires. As for the parents, I don't think they will ever change. It's no wonder why there is always a shortage of umpires. Bottom line is, hopefully the two that are going to continue umpiring will stick with it. It can teach you a great lesson in life, that is, how to take charge of a situation, the importance of knowing the rules and how to apply them, and oh yes, how to deal with idiot's. Side note here, What a great way to earn money while in high school. Beats working at McDonalds any day.