Had a player skip a practice for a private pitching lesson this past Tuesday. Certainly not the end of world but I don't like players to do this in this scenario. This is a 10u travel team. I have a hard time penalizing a player for a decision that was most likely made by her parents, the penalty would have been not pitching in our first game of the season. This is what I personally consider to be our #1 pitcher.
We have been practicing indoors every Tuesday at the same time since January, and we have been practicing outdoors on Tuesdays when the weather allows. If she had skipped a practice that had not been planned months in advance I would certainly understand.
Our first game is tomorrow and we are still going over a lot of scenarios that these girls are not too familiar with. There are certainly good reasons to miss a practice but this is not one of them IMO.
How do coaches handle this situation? The parents were told she can go to all the private pitching lesson that she wants to on Tuesday's but don't expect to pitch in the game the next time this happens.
We have been practicing indoors every Tuesday at the same time since January, and we have been practicing outdoors on Tuesdays when the weather allows. If she had skipped a practice that had not been planned months in advance I would certainly understand.
Our first game is tomorrow and we are still going over a lot of scenarios that these girls are not too familiar with. There are certainly good reasons to miss a practice but this is not one of them IMO.
How do coaches handle this situation? The parents were told she can go to all the private pitching lesson that she wants to on Tuesday's but don't expect to pitch in the game the next time this happens.