Three strikes off the team rule

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter’s club team for a different sport had this rule too. 3 missed practices (not excused sick) and you were off the team. It seems pretty typical once you get to a high level of play. And this was just at the middle school age but well beyond rec.

High school sports is not a high level of play, in the grand scheme of life. These kids don't have multi-million dollar contracts to uphold. Yes, accountability and responsibility are important, but so are grace and human development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter’s club team for a different sport had this rule too. 3 missed practices (not excused sick) and you were off the team. It seems pretty typical once you get to a high level of play. And this was just at the middle school age but well beyond rec.

High school sports is not a high level of play, in the grand scheme of life. These kids don't have multi-million dollar contracts to uphold. Yes, accountability and responsibility are important, but so are grace and human development.

No, but let’s take your example of multimillion dollar contracts and high-level of play. High school is just that, high school where they’re learning to further their academics and athletic life. This is where they’re learning to be accountable and this is where they’re learning that they’re part of a team and that is successful team needs all players to be present. The extreme example is that some of these high-level athletes learn accountability and character in high school.

If you have a student who is overstretched in sports, theater, and so many AP classes that they can’t meet their obligations then they should probably drop some thing so that they can put all their focus into what they are most passionate about and academics.

[Anonymous]

I don't recall the policy for my friend's daughter, but I know she vomited on the floor once because she didn't want to miss.

For ds's football, excused was sick with notice to the coach from the player. A death in the family, or one other one. In each case the player had to let the coach know. The coaches were more flexible with the guys who showed their dedication. If you were late for practice or unmotivated you didn't get much leeway if any. Priorities during the season:

School
Football
Whatever else you had going on.

Homework wasn't a reason to miss, though. One first year's mom emailed the coach saying Larlo would miss practice because he had an assignment due the next day. Larlo didn't have to worry about practice after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HS teams do not allow any absences except for medical appointments, illness, or death in the family. If you miss a practice or school for any other reason you are automatically benched. At least on my kids teams kids never miss practice so I can’t speak to how many times you could miss before you are kicked off.

I don’t think there is a 24 hour notice requirement for being sick. That feels difficult.

Our school lets anyone play, and encourages people to come when they can.

That would make sense if you didn’t have 200 kids coming out for a team. If you are cutting 150+ kids you want the keep the kids who are both skilled and most committed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Homework wasn't a reason to miss, though.

This is a very typical requirement, both in HS and club sports. You know your practice schedule far in advance, and the student should be able to manage their homework around the schedule. If they can't then they might want to consider dropping the sport to focus on school.

One of the benefits of sports is helping students learn how to prepare for life and balancing competing priorities in a way where you can successfully complete all of them is an "adult" skill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter’s club team for a different sport had this rule too. 3 missed practices (not excused sick) and you were off the team. It seems pretty typical once you get to a high level of play. And this was just at the middle school age but well beyond rec.

High school sports is not a high level of play, in the grand scheme of life. These kids don't have multi-million dollar contracts to uphold. Yes, accountability and responsibility are important, but so are grace and human development.

My mother, DD’s grandmother, feels this way and is obviously not into sports and doesn’t understand why she can’t miss practice. I explain it to her as if it’s a rehearsal and they are rehearsing for a big theater production. Everyone plays a part and it takes practice to perfect it and get it right. If this was a musical, you would understand why she couldn’t just not show up to rehearsal sometimes before performances unless she was sick. She would need to practice with the others to make they all worked together to get it right. Same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Homework wasn't a reason to miss, though.

This is a very typical requirement, both in HS and club sports. You know your practice schedule far in advance, and the student should be able to manage their homework around the schedule. If they can't then they might want to consider dropping the sport to focus on school.

One of the benefits of sports is helping students learn how to prepare for life and balancing competing priorities in a way where you can successfully complete all of them is an "adult" skill.

Agreed!

[Anonymous]

I'm so over this stuff. These schools should be promoting well rounded kids. Nothing in HS requires 100% attendance. It's a power trip for coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so over this stuff. These schools should be promoting well rounded kids. Nothing in HS requires 100% attendance. It's a power trip for coaches.

It's a good thing they are optional, isn't it?