Players and Coaches,

We are at a crossroads with player behavior. Due to poor player behavior; we are losing umpires, losing field permits, and our game is in jeopardy. That MUST change. We must change to protect the game we all love and ensure a future where we are still able to take the field. We can no longer watch while players behave poorly each weekend. Players have become comfortable with mistreating directors, umpires, opponents, fans, and honestly anyone in the park. This ends now. We have given teams every chance possible to behave and have not seen the change we need. This has forced us to implement a much more strict policy to protect our game. This past weekend (Pikes Peak NIT) alone we had threats to “Take it to the parking lot”, players in an umpire's face, eliminated players antagonizing teams, slides with the intent to hurt opposing players, and in general, poor sportsmanship from teams all around. This was a relatively mild event. None of these things can be tolerated and are unacceptable moving forward. If you think any of these things belong in the game, please save us and yourself time and find another place to play. There are plenty of organizations that run events that will not be as strict and they will be a much better fit for you. We ask that you withdraw from our events now. Our park is not a place for you to come drink too much, smoke weed, and take out your frustrations from life on everyone around. We understand being competitive and having the desire to win, but many take it far beyond this and make it personal. Umpires are going to make mistakes and people need to learn to have a respectful conversation, instead of throwing a fit. We want to foster the spirit of competition and being the best players you can be. We will not foster treating people like garbage and trying to cause fights. Moving forward, teams that come to the park and cause issues will be withdrawn from future events. We will start suspending the whole team and having each individual player go through the appeal process if they feel they had no involvement. If you don't like that, then I suggest you start checking your teammates and holding them accountable. I am not going to waste our time and have a conversation any longer. I will remove the team from our events and we will move forward. We are ok if you disagree with this. You do not have to spend money with our organization. We are looking for teams that are interested in the most competitive and organized events possible. Please be honest with yourself and decide if our standards are a good fit for you, or if another organization has events that offer what you are looking for. We hope this will help ensure a bright future for our organization and give us the opportunity to focus on providing the best events possible without spending so much time babysitting adults and worrying about conduct. We look forward to our future events and moving forward with the players that are interested in developing their abilities.

Sincerely,

Colorado USSSA