Travel soccer and missing practice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yea. I grew up playing for an incredibly competitive travel team with extensive travel. I was also a straight A honors student, class officer, etc. I never missed practice for homework.

It's called time management.

That sounds like everyone who posts here! Hence the hundreds of page thread on travel and the need to put their Rec level kid on team D of a travel team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

Yes, but regardless of the times/days, there are still the same amount of hours in a day and days in a week. The kids have to learn to do the homework when there is time to do it, blocking out practice times as times unavailable for doing homework. It means looking ahead and doing long-term work earlier than the night before, catching up on the weekend, or sometimes staying up later than desired. It's an intro to how to manage time as an adult.

[Anonymous]

It's simple: grades/schoolwork come first.

My siblings and I understood this from our parents at a young age. We knew if we wanted to continue we had to show we were capable of getting the schoolwork done.

If your son is struggling with that greatly, then you tell him he can't do travel until he shows he can manage both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

Look my siblings and I gave up Catholicism for soccer much to the chagrin of our Irish-Catholic mother . Sundays were the church of soccer. There just weren't enough hours in the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

How far in advance did you get your homework schedule?.......Exactly.

Seriously, practice will be 3x/week consuming a block of time sometime between 5:00-9:00pm. If ANY of that conflicts with your other obligations then do not play travel soccer regardless of level. Rec or Challenge soccer can provide the same fun and exercise with a more manageable time commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

How far in advance did you get your homework schedule?.......Exactly.

Seriously, practice will be 3x/week consuming a block of time sometime between 5:00-9:00pm. If ANY of that conflicts with your other obligations then do not play travel soccer regardless of level. Rec or Challenge soccer can provide the same fun and exercise with a more manageable time commitment.

These whiners do not know what it takes with not enough fields for the sheer number of teams in the local area to schedule practices..and then many of the fields aren't lighted which causes an even tighter problem.

Like this pp states---they will tell you how many hours per week/days---you will have to wait to beginning of year to know exactly what day and time. However, Fall and Spring practices are usually kept the same schedule.

What a sense of entitlement some of you express about bending everyone else to conform with Hebrew school or your kid's test. In all honesty, my kids don't know project or test dates that far in advance either.

Get your kid to step-up and learn how to manage his/her time. Boss may one day give him something and expect him to get it out right away. It's called LIFE. The sooner they learn to deal without mom helicoptering over them--the better off they will be.

Signed, another mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

Sounds like the Stoddert I know!

Back to OP (which may be you) - only illness and special school events would be IMO excuses to miss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

Sounds like the Stoddert I know!

Back to OP (which may be you) - only illness and special school events would be IMO excuses to miss.

Surprised no one has told you the secret truth: if you are on the very bottom travel team (think 4th or 6th team depending on club), your kid can miss a lot of practices (not weekly, but think 6 a season). Coach may ask a question or two, but generally won't care too much as the club is happy to have your money and won't bother you too much for skipping a practice to do something else. Coming from rec, I assume this is where your son would feed into travel. The Top 1-2 teams usually tolerate NO absences, unless sick. So all depends on the club and team. Even some small NCSL clubs are more family friendly and will cut you some slack now and then. We skipped every weekly skills session for a year at a local NCSL club and the coach never said a word. Of course, not advising this as you are wasting money and will not get better as a player, but your situation can easily be accommodated and there are years where we just had too many conflicts. Just ask around a little and find a bottom team. I think most of the posters are talking about the top team at a big club, or a great team at a small NCSL club. There are bad top teams at small NCSL clubs that would be happy to have your money. I would encourage your son to dig a little deeper.

(Parent of multiple kids who have played at multiple local clubs, on top and bottom teams. We try to go to as much as we can of everything. Our A team kid goes to 100% of everything, while others do 90% without any problems. They all love soccer, but each has different issues.)

[Anonymous]

My kid has another sport whose practices conflict with travel soccer. We don't know in advance if the practices will conflict. He's not quitting the other sport. In my experience, the team's flexibility is directly proportional to the athlete's ability on the field. My kid has always played a full game, he's needed on the field regardless of whether or not he's able to make every practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has another sport whose practices conflict with travel soccer. We don't know in advance if the practices will conflict. He's not quitting the other sport. In my experience, the team's flexibility is directly proportional to the athlete's ability on the field. My kid has always played a full game, he's needed on the field regardless of whether or not he's able to make every practice.

are there no subs available on the team that he needs to start or play so much while missing practice? Are other kids also missing practice? How serious is the team? hard to keep a team together or other player's returning when they see favoritism being given to a player who is not at all practices like the other players. What's the age? Could be that coach is more focused on wins that setting expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has another sport whose practices conflict with travel soccer. We don't know in advance if the practices will conflict. He's not quitting the other sport. In my experience, the team's flexibility is directly proportional to the athlete's ability on the field. My kid has always played a full game, he's needed on the field regardless of whether or not he's able to make every practice.

Real nice lesson your coach is sending. Your kid might be good but you and your coach are fucking assholes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS almost always misses one of three weekly practices to go to Hebrew School. It's been OK so far, but he is only U12. I wouldn't have him skip just for homework/studying.

Why sign up for a sport knowing in advance that your son would miss ONE THIRD of all practices? That's a huge amount and is unfair to your son's teammates.

We did not know in advance that practices would conflict. Last year they didn't. We didn't know fall practice days/times til late August. We still don't know practice days and times for winter.

Seriously if we could predict practice schedule it would make it much easier

How far in advance did you get your homework schedule?.......Exactly.

Seriously, practice will be 3x/week consuming a block of time sometime between 5:00-9:00pm. If ANY of that conflicts with your other obligations then do not play travel soccer regardless of level. Rec or Challenge soccer can provide the same fun and exercise with a more manageable time commitment.

These whiners do not know what it takes with not enough fields for the sheer number of teams in the local area to schedule practices..and then many of the fields aren't lighted which causes an even tighter problem.

Like this pp states---they will tell you how many hours per week/days---you will have to wait to beginning of year to know exactly what day and time. However, Fall and Spring practices are usually kept the same schedule.

What a sense of entitlement some of you express about bending everyone else to conform with Hebrew school or your kid's test. In all honesty, my kids don't know project or test dates that far in advance either.

Get your kid to step-up and learn how to manage his/her time. Boss may one day give him something and expect him to get it out right away. It's called LIFE. The sooner they learn to deal without mom helicoptering over them--the better off they will be.

Signed, another mom

I'm sorry -- is Hebrew school impinging on your team's G-d-given right to have every player at every practice, no matter when it was scheduled?

Shall we move the Sabbath, too?

[Anonymous]

Hebrew School I can understand - its one of those things that U12/13 teams have to work with. Its one year.

My child has missed travel practice when their private middle school team has an away game at times that infringe on practice. Its important to my kid to help the school team out (they are the star player). The coach has been mostly ok with it as its a short season and few practices have been missed - usually they are able to go from one to the other, or misses school practice in lieu of travel practice.

[Anonymous]

Missing middle or high school over club?

Hahaa