Missing Practice

[GOINGDEEP]

I'm with CoachKevin, there seems to be an epidemic of illness during HS practice dates. What's so funny is about 1 o'clock I'll stroll over to Twitter and it's the same ones that start twitting "not feeling good" "I'm sick" "gonna pass out" "need to check out" "got a fever". What's not funny is these are the same players who complain about not getting playtime when the season starts.

Don't these kids realize we were that age once, we know all the tricks and patterns? lol

 

[starsnuffer]

As a coach, I've never had a problem with a kid asking to be excused from practice due to someones birthday party or such. . . given that the kid already proved that they were dedicated and showed up to the vast majority of practices.

It's the kid that always seems to be sick, injured, or have family visits every other week that I take issue to asking to be excused for a friendly function.

-W

 

[quincy]

I lied, I am posting in this thread again.

MS story.

Apparently be at the game at 11:00 meant be at the game at 11:15 or 11:30, DD’s leagues team players/ parents do this too. 1st game at 11:01 HC pulled out his cell phone and started making phone calls. Heard part of the conversation and he was explaining to the parent what 11:00 meant. He did a lot of things I liked.

 

[Pdiddy]

I'm with CoachKevin, there seems to be an epidemic of illness during HS practice dates. What's so funny is about 1 o'clock I'll stroll over to Twitter and it's the same ones that start twitting "not feeling good" "I'm sick" "gonna pass out" "need to check out" "got a fever". What's not funny is these are the same players who complain about not getting playtime when the season starts.

Don't these kids realize we were that age once, we know all the tricks and patterns? lol

That's pretty good....and extremely accurrate!

 

[YOCOACH]

When I coached rec teams......make as many practices/games as possible. If they were going to miss either one or be late, they were to let me know ASAP as a courtesy to me and the team.

Now coaching TB and these are the organizations rule, not mine....We break from the end of Nationals until the end of September. We practice once a week, usually from the end of September through the end of February. Valid excuses to miss these are school events/sports, injury /illness, death in the family etc. As of March first, we are in season and unless they are in the hospital or on their death bed, they will be at practice and or tournaments. If they miss a practice, they will sit out a pool play game. If they miss a tournament, they are required to show up at the next one and sit the entire pool play. This is all stated in the parent/player/team contract signed by all. If they can't abide by it then they are asked not to join the team if offered a position. If later they decide they can't abide by the contract, they will either be asked to leave the team or they will not be asked back for tryouts the following year.

Obviously there are exceptions to every rule such as going out of the country on a family vacation or a death in the immediate family.

As an aside, we have a player that decided she was going to run school track this year. Since her track meets were Saturday afternoons which conflicts with our practice schedule, the HC told her she had a choice to make, run track and leave the team or play softball. Her parents were very upset and raised a huge stink with the Organization's President. The President pulled out the player contract, showed it to them, and told them their daughter had a choice to make and there would be no refund of any kind. Then he told HC on the side that they were not to be invited back for tryouts. I don't agree with that part of it but I think they are trying to set a precedence since the parents made such a big deal of it and this is really the first time this has happened since the org. was founded in 2006.

 

[InsidePitch]

DD's travel team coach doesn't want to hear from us if they won't be at practice. He says he doesn't care but I always feel compelled to send an email. We don't have many kids miss. I guess it was his speech to them about getting better. FYI, they have all seen kids cut at the 18U tryout and they will all be moving up this fall. They also see the kids that got picked by colleges to continue their careers.

 

[11smom]

My DD plays 14U and is on a team with 12 players,most of whom have been with this team 3 or more years. The girls and coaches are really bonded, and seem to love their time together. Players missing practice is rare. There are no "written" rules, but is known by each of the girls that they are each an important piece of the puzzle, and are expected to be there. I have always stressed to my kids that there needs to be a very good reason to miss a scheduled practice. If a coach is taking his/her time to be there, then he/she needs the support of ALL of the players, and yes, it means sometimes sacrificing doing other things. Never really been an issue. They see the fruits of their labor when they work hard, all together, as a team.

 

[TXJames44]

Our current team (14uA) is very engaged with attending practices. Our reasons for not attending mirror what was written previously, however, we have added Covid quarantines etc high on the list.

Most of our girls all play a secondary sport at MS and there is rarely conflicts (a few, but rare)
Our practice schedule is well defined and hasn't changed much in a few years. However, one of our girls recently started playing another sport that has practices/tournaments that are in direct conflict with our practice schedule. MS athletics has been a valid reason to miss, but now we are talking missing EVERY practice.

Obviously playing time will be affected (a lot). Our first tournament is in a few weeks, and this athlete has attended 1-2 of the past 10 practices, and won't be with us again until tournament weekend (which is not local).

The MS school sport will end before our 3rd tournament (early April), and I'm assuming they will be back as full participants.

 

[BT3100]

It's very important to put your kid on a team where the other girls are aligned with her commitment to softball. If your DD is a "multi sport athlete" (I laugh at that as a side note) then she needs to be on a team where missing practices is okay and not frowned upon. But if she is on a team where all girls are in 100% than missing practices is seen as unacceptable. Having them on the proper team that matches the commitment level is paramount to development and prevention of drama.

 

[_MIA_]

If your DD is a "multi sport athlete" (I laugh at that as a side note)

Care to explain why that is funny to you? If instead you are laughing at the thought that multi-sport athletes make better softball players than I can see your point maybe.