Poor Attendance at Practice Cancels Season

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As coaches, we often lament the demands on our players' time that interfere with their ability to regularly attend practices and games. It's the rare youth coach who has the luxury of having full attendance at events. We're often left to juggle schedules to make sure we can get most of our players to attend, knowing that it's next to impossible to get them all there consistently.

Here's an example of a coach who had canceled his school team's participation in the playoffs due to a perceived lack of commitment by some of his players because they missed a practice. By all accounts, the coach (who is also a teacher at the school) is a strict disciplinarian.

Reading some of the explanations from the students/players about their schedules (school practice, followed by club team practice, followed by games that got them home at 1:30 AM and too tired to wake up for 7:00 AM practices (the coach's normal practice time)), it's not hard to see the coach's frustration. Not knowing the history of the team, whether his actions were too harsh is open to debate. What we also need to consider where our kids are concerned is "How much participation is enough?" Is playing on a school team and two club teams in the same season too much? What is the proper balance among social, sports, and academic pursuits? It's certainly a personal decision, and is largely dependent on each individual child's ability and desire to keep such a hectic schedule.

However, there's also the issue of commitment to a team, to a coach, and to a school or organization. When a player tries out for and makes a team, there's an inherent expectation by the coaching staff that the player will be available for most practices and games. If that's not the case, and that's not communicated before the tryout, then issues will most certainly arise. Coaches today expect that they will not get 100% participation because of all the demands on players. But they should expect a reasonable participation (75%? Games before other teams' practices?). If a coach expects 100% commitment and a player is unwilling or unable to give it, then it's in the best interests of both parties that the player not participate on that team. In this case, it appears that the coach's expectations were widely known.

Were the coach's actions appropriate? Is there any blame for the parents and players? What would you have done if you were the coach? Parent? Player?

Posted By: Jim Roynan

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