WWYD: youth sports coaching question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonable to set an expectation that kids who do not come to practice will not be starters. Its unreasonable in rec to sit a travel player who cannot attend practice due to going to another basketball practice. This is a kid. They just want to play with their friends.

Parents shouldn't sign their kids up for leagues with no intention of ever bringing their kid to a practice. If practices conflict, switch to a different rec team.

Do your kids play sports? When you sign up you have no idea what day practice will be. You can't just switch on a dime.

Wrong. Rec leagues ask specifically for practice night conflicts. And rec leagues over engineer their drafts to avoid those conflicts. Ask me how I know.

Bottom line: you can't show up for practice for team you're signed up for (doesn't matter what level it might be) - you don't play or you play the minimum league sets. Guiding principle is fairness to other players - they're showing up....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonable to set an expectation that kids who do not come to practice will not be starters. Its unreasonable in rec to sit a travel player who cannot attend practice due to going to another basketball practice. This is a kid. They just want to play with their friends.

Parents shouldn't sign their kids up for leagues with no intention of ever bringing their kid to a practice. If practices conflict, switch to a different rec team.

Do your kids play sports? When you sign up you have no idea what day practice will be. You can't just switch on a dime.

Wrong. Rec leagues ask specifically for practice night conflicts. And rec leagues over engineer their drafts to avoid those conflicts. Ask me how I know.

Bottom line: you can't show up for practice for team you're signed up for (doesn't matter what level it might be) - you don't play or you play the minimum league sets. Guiding principle is fairness to other players - they're showing up....

Dp. Our rec leagues never ask for conflicts...must depend on the league

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonable to set an expectation that kids who do not come to practice will not be starters. Its unreasonable in rec to sit a travel player who cannot attend practice due to going to another basketball practice. This is a kid. They just want to play with their friends.

Parents shouldn't sign their kids up for leagues with no intention of ever bringing their kid to a practice. If practices conflict, switch to a different rec team.

Do your kids play sports? When you sign up you have no idea what day practice will be. You can't just switch on a dime.

Wrong. Rec leagues ask specifically for practice night conflicts. And rec leagues over engineer their drafts to avoid those conflicts. Ask me how I know.

Bottom line: you can't show up for practice for team you're signed up for (doesn't matter what level it might be) - you don't play or you play the minimum league sets. Guiding principle is fairness to other players - they're showing up....

Dp. Our rec leagues never ask for conflicts...must depend on the league

+1

What an administrative nightmare that would be.

[Anonymous]

That’s a tough call. Our kids play travel sports and also all the rec sports at their school. Sometimes, they conflict and the travel sport gets priority. Usually, we still try to make it to a couple practices, go every other time, show up late or leave early, and somehow make it work. The travel players are often the best on the team though, and the other players even want them to play. I’d give him some leeway, if he is making some effort or can otherwise learn plays and help the team.

[Anonymous]

Been and this situation some and have mixed feelings.
I've always believed that the kids who show up for practices and games should get priority playing , whatever the level.
However, until kids get older I also encourage multiple sports and doing that can create conflicts. (been there)
However, fora lot of teams, especially REC kids are playing together as friends and want o be on a team together. They don't really care about who comes to practices. If this is the case and the kids all know each other, I'd be more lenient and allow it. If it was a rec team and the kids didn't know each other and this wasn't more of a "friend team" then I'd probably have a talk with the parents and explain that the kid can stay on the team but "playing time" won't be as much as kids who show up all the time.

[Anonymous]

A lot of rec leagues will let you list one or two nights you CAN"t practice. It makes the drafts difficult of course. And MANY of these travel/club type people have zero plans to bring their child to any practice regardless of the practice night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonable to set an expectation that kids who do not come to practice will not be starters. Its unreasonable in rec to sit a travel player who cannot attend practice due to going to another basketball practice. This is a kid. They just want to play with their friends.

Parents shouldn't sign their kids up for leagues with no intention of ever bringing their kid to a practice. If practices conflict, switch to a different rec team.

Do your kids play sports? When you sign up you have no idea what day practice will be. You can't just switch on a dime.

Yes, my kids have played lots of rec sports. There is *always* a section asking for schedule conflicts. You can say "no Mondays, my kid has CCD" and your kid will be placed on a non-Monday team.

[Anonymous]

I’ve coached rec league basketball for years. I would reach out to the league director and cc the parent and say “Unfortunately Larlo can’t make any of our practices is there any spot available for him on a team that practices on a different day”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonable to set an expectation that kids who do not come to practice will not be starters. Its unreasonable in rec to sit a travel player who cannot attend practice due to going to another basketball practice. This is a kid. They just want to play with their friends.

Parents shouldn't sign their kids up for leagues with no intention of ever bringing their kid to a practice. If practices conflict, switch to a different rec team.

Do your kids play sports? When you sign up you have no idea what day practice will be. You can't just switch on a dime.

Yes, my kids have played lots of rec sports. There is *always* a section asking for schedule conflicts. You can say "no Mondays, my kid has CCD" and your kid will be placed on a non-Monday team.

I’m not sure why this is hard for people on either side to understand. Some rec leagues ask for day conflicts, and some don’t.

Also, some people sign up for a rec league before they know their club practice days.

[Anonymous]

I agree with others. See if your league has a policy. Then communicate that clearly to the parent and the kid.

My son is in a league that requires each player to sit for one quarter, and each player to play for at least two quarters.

So, you could say, "I just want you to know -- I'll prioritize playing the kids who can practice. Happy to have you here for two quarters per game."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with others. See if your league has a policy. Then communicate that clearly to the parent and the kid.

My son is in a league that requires each player to sit for one quarter, and each player to play for at least two quarters.

So, you could say, "I just want you to know -- I'll prioritize playing the kids who can practice. Happy to have you here for two quarters per game."

There is no need to say anything at all.
Send an email welcoming everyone to the team, state players are expected to attend practice, and play the child the minimum required time in the game. No need for explanations or conversations. You make your expectations clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonable to set an expectation that kids who do not come to practice will not be starters. Its unreasonable in rec to sit a travel player who cannot attend practice due to going to another basketball practice. This is a kid. They just want to play with their friends.

Parents shouldn't sign their kids up for leagues with no intention of ever bringing their kid to a practice. If practices conflict, switch to a different rec team.

Do your kids play sports? When you sign up you have no idea what day practice will be. You can't just switch on a dime.

Yes, my kids have played lots of rec sports. There is *always* a section asking for schedule conflicts. You can say "no Mondays, my kid has CCD" and your kid will be placed on a non-Monday team.

I’m not sure why this is hard for people on either side to understand. Some rec leagues ask for day conflicts, and some don’t.

Also, some people sign up for a rec league before they know their club practice days.

Um, then ask the rec league to move the kid to a team practicing on X day.

The real truth is the travel parents don't care when the rec team practice is, because they aren't planning on attending anyway. They want their kid on the Friend Team, or jsut to get more game play time, or just think that hour of rec practice is not the best use of little Larlo's time. Its rude to the coach and the other kids on the team.

[Anonymous]

My kid plays rec for soccer and basketball for years. We do not know the practice schedule till the week before and the game schedule till the week before for each season sign up. We sign up a few months in advance just praying that it does not cause schedule conflict. He has other things weekly going on like his mental therapy and other lessons unrelated to these 2 sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid plays rec for soccer and basketball for years. We do not know the practice schedule till the week before and the game schedule till the week before for each season sign up. We sign up a few months in advance just praying that it does not cause schedule conflict. He has other things weekly going on like his mental therapy and other lessons unrelated to these 2 sports.

It’s not realistic to expect a volunteer run rec league to be able to accommodate a kid’s changing or unpredictable schedule. The reason you don’t know the schedule is because 1) counties don’t finalize gym or field permits until last minute and 2) leagues are usually struggling to get enough coaches, which affects the total number of teams and thus number of kids per team.

A lot of leagues ask you to specify at least two days you can practice. They can’t realistically accommodate someone who says they can only practice on one specific day, or that they don’t know which nights they’ll be available but please put their kid on a team that will somehow work with their schedule.

If a kid gets assigned to a team that practices on a night they can’t ever attend, the league can usually move them to a different team if the request is made ASAP. If a kid’s schedule changes so much that you can’t predict when they’ll be available, a team sport is not the right fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonable to set an expectation that kids who do not come to practice will not be starters. Its unreasonable in rec to sit a travel player who cannot attend practice due to going to another basketball practice. This is a kid. They just want to play with their friends.

Parents shouldn't sign their kids up for leagues with no intention of ever bringing their kid to a practice. If practices conflict, switch to a different rec team.

Do your kids play sports? When you sign up you have no idea what day practice will be. You can't just switch on a dime.

Yes, my kids have played lots of rec sports. There is *always* a section asking for schedule conflicts. You can say "no Mondays, my kid has CCD" and your kid will be placed on a non-Monday team.

I’m not sure why this is hard for people on either side to understand. Some rec leagues ask for day conflicts, and some don’t.

Also, some people sign up for a rec league before they know their club practice days.

Um, then ask the rec league to move the kid to a team practicing on X day.

The real truth is the travel parents don't care when the rec team practice is, because they aren't planning on attending anyway. They want their kid on the Friend Team, or jsut to get more game play time, or just think that hour of rec practice is not the best use of little Larlo's time. Its rude to the coach and the other kids on the team.

This is what I suspect is happening in OP’s situation. The kid wants to be with certain other kids so wants to stay on that team without ever going to the practices. I agree with those suggesting to look into league rules or ask a league administrator. I think as a coach you have every right to say that players who don’t attend practice will get the minimum playing time. But f the parents complain, let them take it up with the league. Some people need to be told no.