- Jun 1, 2015
- 501
- 43
Situation: 16U rec ball - games start at the end of June. School ball going on now - players from LL through Varsity on my team.
April: Practice 3 days a week - typically Tuesday/Thursday from 6-8pm and Sunday 12-2pm. (6 hours/week).
May: Down to 2 days a week - typically Wednesday 6-8pm and Sunday 12-2pm. (4 hours/week).
June: Same as May - games start the last Monday of the month. (4 hours/week).
July: Practices just Sunday from 12-2pm.
I have had issues in the past with attendances at my practices - I have 11 girls currently and I'm lucky to have that. So I've implemented a new attendance policy for this season that works as follows:
- Players must make at least 75% of all practices during the season before they're eligible for their first game (we're looking at about 20-25 practices).
- Attending an entire/majority of a practice earns "one practice credit" toward their goal.
- Missing practice because of an "excused reason" (school ball/practice, school event, etc) earns "1/2 credit" (provided I'm contacted first)
- Players can make up a 1/2 credit by show up to or staying late after another practice for 30 minutes of individualized work (hitting, pitching, fielding, whatever).
Reasoning for this: I understand things come up where people aren't always able to attend - I research all the schedules for the teams my girls play for and try to schedule around their games. I've also had VERY FEW practices with all my girls together, and it showed last year with a 5-8 record (granted it's our best record in 3 seasons). This way, if a player needs to miss, there's not a major penalty for it and the onus is on them to make the commitment to making it up, just like schoolwork for an absence. I think this is BEYOND fair and doesn't even have to be done, but I'm choosing to do it.
One parent (a returning player) has already started with the, "How do you expect these kids to do homework/eat dinner when they're going from their HS practice to yours?" (this said when MY practice schedule/times are concrete and she's really annoyed with the HS team's practice which is constantly changing because of field conditions). What the school does is none of my concern/say - my times are my times because of their schedules. Ironic part - I'm our little league's head umpire - her husband is one of our coaches and her youngest son plays still, so they'd be at these fields 5 nights a week anyways - so the "homework/dinner" statement to me seems rather hypocritical.
I've been as firm as I can about the matter but I don't want any further backlash. I've stressed that this is a commitment just like her HS team is and she honors that commitment when she can - and if not, she earns 1/2 credit and will have to make it up like any other player. Am I being too unjust in my decision? Most of my new and returning players find zero issue with this idea, and this team is a COMMITMENT team - I've stressed this C-word repeatedly because my girls only pay for their uniforms - they need to show up so that I can work with them to improve their abilities and so we can gel as a unit. Thanks all!
April: Practice 3 days a week - typically Tuesday/Thursday from 6-8pm and Sunday 12-2pm. (6 hours/week).
May: Down to 2 days a week - typically Wednesday 6-8pm and Sunday 12-2pm. (4 hours/week).
June: Same as May - games start the last Monday of the month. (4 hours/week).
July: Practices just Sunday from 12-2pm.
I have had issues in the past with attendances at my practices - I have 11 girls currently and I'm lucky to have that. So I've implemented a new attendance policy for this season that works as follows:
- Players must make at least 75% of all practices during the season before they're eligible for their first game (we're looking at about 20-25 practices).
- Attending an entire/majority of a practice earns "one practice credit" toward their goal.
- Missing practice because of an "excused reason" (school ball/practice, school event, etc) earns "1/2 credit" (provided I'm contacted first)
- Players can make up a 1/2 credit by show up to or staying late after another practice for 30 minutes of individualized work (hitting, pitching, fielding, whatever).
Reasoning for this: I understand things come up where people aren't always able to attend - I research all the schedules for the teams my girls play for and try to schedule around their games. I've also had VERY FEW practices with all my girls together, and it showed last year with a 5-8 record (granted it's our best record in 3 seasons). This way, if a player needs to miss, there's not a major penalty for it and the onus is on them to make the commitment to making it up, just like schoolwork for an absence. I think this is BEYOND fair and doesn't even have to be done, but I'm choosing to do it.
One parent (a returning player) has already started with the, "How do you expect these kids to do homework/eat dinner when they're going from their HS practice to yours?" (this said when MY practice schedule/times are concrete and she's really annoyed with the HS team's practice which is constantly changing because of field conditions). What the school does is none of my concern/say - my times are my times because of their schedules. Ironic part - I'm our little league's head umpire - her husband is one of our coaches and her youngest son plays still, so they'd be at these fields 5 nights a week anyways - so the "homework/dinner" statement to me seems rather hypocritical.
I've been as firm as I can about the matter but I don't want any further backlash. I've stressed that this is a commitment just like her HS team is and she honors that commitment when she can - and if not, she earns 1/2 credit and will have to make it up like any other player. Am I being too unjust in my decision? Most of my new and returning players find zero issue with this idea, and this team is a COMMITMENT team - I've stressed this C-word repeatedly because my girls only pay for their uniforms - they need to show up so that I can work with them to improve their abilities and so we can gel as a unit. Thanks all!