This happened yesterday... About the 3rd day of practice I had a kid come up to me and ask, What do I need to do to get better?. My simple answer was, Work harder. If you are doing a drill, do it more and do it correctly. So yesterday's JV game gets cancelled, we advised everyone of who needed to stay to work out with the varsity and for everyone else, it was an optional. First person out the door to go home was the kid who "wants to get better". He is now on my list.
I agree with mds1 in finding out why he left. There may be an actual legitimate reason why he left. Now the learning objective is to get him to learn to be responsible to inform you. In this is the case then he needs to learn. If he left because he wanted a day off then he can be on your list. But still need to tell him why. Sadly, he won't (probably) figure it out and blame you for not "getting his chance" although you told him why.
One thing you'll learn as you get older, and most of us are still guilty of it after all the time we've been in it, is that you are going to have knowledge and skills of the game that come so naturally to you from doing it right so long that you overlook it with them. The thing to remember is at one point you didn't know either but luckily it was taught to you at a much younger age. They haven't had this chance to learn it because nobody has taught it to them. While it gets frustrating it's also counterproductive to try and hold these kids accountable for things they don't know how to to do. Some will get right away and that part of coaching is over. While some needs a few reminders and there are those who just will never get it. The thing is you never know when it will click for them.
Keep trying and try to keep your cool. It will take some time but as you guys establish "your program" it will get easier because the doing things over and over the same way will become the norm. This group of freshmen will be your best teachers of the program when they become seniors because they've been through it so much. Just takes time.
Love this thread