8u travel team. No call, no show.

We had a game last night, and a girl that we were expecting to be at the game did not show up. Her parents did not call or email to inform anyone or myself (H.C.). We played the game with 9 and lost, we normally play with 10 girls on defense and everyone bats.

The game before last night she shows up 10 minutes late to the game and we started the game with 8 girls. A different girl backed out 1 hour before that game because she was vomitting, that is the reason we only had 8 girls.

This is a 8u travel ball team that is associated with a rec league, and we try to keep things fun and positive for the girls. The no call, no show is very aggravating for a head coach. If the girl does not want to play with us no longer that is fine but call and tell me so I can find a replacement player from the rec league, no reason to punish the other 9 girls that showed up.

The girl in question has not made it to a practice in 3 weeks which would equate to 3 practices.

I sent out a email at the beginning of the week regarding contacting me if you are not going to make it to a game.

Suggestions on how to handle this? I was going to email her parents and ask what happened last night, and why they did not let us know their daughter was not going to be at the game. I would also ask them if she even wants to play anymore.

WELL SINCE SHE CAN'T DRIVE AND IS 8....PICK UP PHONE AND CALL THE PARENTS.

Hello...I noticed Suzie is missing games and practice, what's up?

Find another player.

Pick up another player and if the girl does show sit her on the bench. When she learns to show up (and on time) she can play.

djcarter1966 said:

WELL SINCE SHE CAN'T DRIVE AND IS 8....PICK UP PHONE AND CALL THE PARENTS.

Hello...I noticed Suzie is missing games and practice, what's up?

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8 year olds can't drive? Who'd a thunk.

Do you have an code of conduct you had the parents and/or players read? In most it gives the method you should use to alert if you aren't going
to be somewhere. It's often an issue when you come from rec. We still have a problem at 14U with divorced couple where the Mom will just
decide DD isn't going to practice or that she wants to go camping instead of playing that weekend. Another will punish DD by not letting her
play in weekend tournament. They never ask if we have enough without them, just do it. It hasn't hurt us yet, but during the summer when people
have scheduled weekends off it's a problem.

This is an 8 year old girl playing a game, be sure to keep that in mind when you go after the parents for being irresponsible. The kid is completely powerless here, be sure she is not being punished because she happened to pick the wrong parents.

Youth sports, especially anything associated with a rec league, is about the girls first and foremost, and for some girls on these teams, sports may be the only outlet they have for bad home situations, so tread carefully and read the situation before deciding to bench/replace a kid.

GunnerShotgun said:

Pick up another player and if the girl does show sit her on the bench. When she learns to show up (and on time) she can play.

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Did you see the part where this girls is 8? OP, contact the parents and see what the problem is.

For starters, 8yo don't email; they text. With that said, you shouldn't be emailing an 8yo. Also, you shouldn't be texting an 8yo. You should be communicating with the parents. Phone calls are best too.

When she didn't show up for the game I would have called her parents 1/2 hour before game time during warm-ups when you realize Suzy hasn't shown yet to see where she is. You know how it goes; "Is Suzy here yet?" "No I don't see her" "Is she supposed to come?" "Yes, as far as I know" "Okay, let me call her parents to see where she is"

Why didn't this conversation with your AC and phone call take place?

Lickety Split said:

For starters, 8yo don't email; they text. With that said, you shouldn't be emailing an 8yo. Also, you shouldn't be texting an 8yo. You should be communicating with the parents. Phone calls are best too.

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I'm going to go ahead and assume the OP is not e-mailing the 8 year old. (Do 8yos really even text? That seems absurdly young).

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I'm hoping it is coaching 101 at younger ages you must go though parents.