Thoughts please not judgements

[bmakj]

If the girls communicated clearly ahead of time, who does punishing her help? the girl, nope; teammates, nope; coach, possibly, I guess it can help ego and reputation as a hard rear winner. . . which is the point of HS athletics after all, right.

Sorry, HS athletics are there to help teach life skills. and young people should not have to sacrifice everything else in order to be part of them. Adults who forget this, and make it the priority, should really remove themselves from leadership positions in schools period.

yes, sacrifice is a lesson to be learned as well, but we should be encouraging young people to explore lots of options at this point in their lives, not trying to limit them. if the school is a powerhouse, and has 10 girls clamoring for her spot, then yes maybe you do not take her on V if the work situation is known, and it teaches likes lessons about choices. if the girls is talented enough to help the team (not saying talent excuses bad behaviour), and is otherwise a good teammate. work with them, to help them learn how to balance multiple responsibilities. and it is on the player to communicate work schedules ahead of time.

My older DD may very well have to miss a practice or part of one a week in fall for her sport (her senior year) because of her job. she also practices plenty outside her HS practices. should she sit a game a week? younger DD missed 1-2 winter workouts/practices a week until early april, as her winter sport season ran late due to covid. if she missed a game for each one of them, she might just now be starting to play.

 

[CoachYodaD]

A player walking off the field during a game is bad. This creates a whole slew of problems that will plague this coach if he/she doesn't get a handle on. Taking the situation provided by the OP with just the information provided, I think there should be two meetings before any consequences are administered. First meeting is with the coach and the player. The coach needs to understand all the why's of the incident. The second meeting must be with the whole team, where the discussion about the actions and consequences, if any are discussed and explained.

Almost all issues on a softball team are a result of communication breakdown. The second most common cause for issues is the lack of fair treatment (actual or perceived).

There is a glaring point in the OP's description of the event that stands out to me as an issue that can't simply be dealt with by suspension. When the catcher called for her sister and said, "Come on, we are leaving." This tells me that the parents or guardians are not at the game. The sister has no way home at that moment. Can be remedied, but at the moment, was not taken care of. This job may be more important to these girls than simple casual spending money. And Softball may be an activity that probably is done more for fun or escape than a means to get further in her educational journey.

 

[bmakj]

Bottom line is, situation is really much more complex than can be diagnosed here. everyone comes at this with their own history and perspectives, and uses this to fill in the missing gaps.

 

[sluggers]

I'll share some information from a HS coach. He absolutely can't believe what he has to do this year.

He had 14 players on his team. At the very beginning of the season, 4 kids drove home from school with a parent who tested positive. So, all 4 kids were quarantined for 2 weeks, which totals 8 games. So, suddenly he is down to 10 players.

Because the school couldn't have any activities until March, the school has stacked up the last three months with concerts, recitals, plays, and ACT/SAT tests. By school policy, the kids are allowed to miss games without penalty to attend these events.

You can't have discipline *THIS YEAR* the way it was in prior years. This isn't even close to a normal year.

 

[_MIA_]

I'll share some information from a HS coach. He absolutely can't believe what he has to do this year.

He had 14 players on his team. At the very beginning of the season, 4 kids drove home from school with a parent who tested positive. So, all 4 kids were quarantined for 2 weeks, which totals 8 games. So, suddenly he is down to 10 players.

Because the school couldn't have any activities until March, the school has stacked up the last three months with concerts, recitals, plays, and ACT/SAT tests. By school policy, the kids are allowed to miss games without penalty to attend these events.

So, no, this isn't even close to a normal year.

You obviously are not hardcore enough...please hand in your man card at the nearest "Big Balls Inc." store.

 

[Yanko70]

To have a HS team and not expect girls to miss for jobs, SATs/Prep, proms, school functions etc. is just silly. It's just going to happen, you have to plan for it and work with them. It's not some elite national travel ball team.

Not all jobs are flexible with their scheduling, many are work these days or your done, and we all know kids who are working to help support their families, some are rasing siblings. Sounds like the parents are either not involved or too busy working themselves to survive.

Need a lot more details.



Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

[Anthony Vertuccio]

Love the debate...its been respectful mostfully except soneone calling the coach a jerk and an idiot. Never will understand that mentality

 

[_MIA_]

its been respectful mostfully

You must have missed my posts...or I am losing my touch

 

[CoachJD]

I'm confused how the coach is not aware of her work schedule.

Because you could send some teenagers to Gitmo for the next 50 years and you still couldn't get them to pass on information to the adults in their lives.

 

[CoachJD]

HS softball exists for the benefit of the kids...not for the parents, the umpires or the coaches. If a coach isn't running a HS team for the kids, then the coach has no business on the field.

100% agree, so for me, the only real consideration is one kid vs the entire team of kids. It's possible the coach will not be able to make a decision that benefits the entire team here.

Do you keep a kid on a team when that kid's presence is going to do a lot of harm to the team (thus ruining the experience for a dozen or more other kids)? What if they kid really, really needs the activity in her life? It's not an easy decision to make, but that is how the coach should be thinking about it.