Yes I agree not all programs can be treated the same, just looking for context and how others handle their programs (specifically in regards to a job. Only 2nd year on the job so I'm formulating my philosophy regarding missed practices and games "on the fly" so to speak as "excuses" arise and the context of the excuse is presented to me. Usually I get no context which makes the decision to be flexible really hard. Right now I'm struggling with being flexible at all for fear of being taken advantage of and others thinking they can stretch my flexibility further to the point of having a negative impact on the team. Complicating it further is how flexible to be with starters vs non starters/jv boys that don't get many chances.
My current situation is (or rather was) a player wanting to work instead of coming to practice. Instead of simply saying yes its ok or no its not.... I posed the hypothetical question of if a game was moved due to rain to a scheduled work night, whether he'd miss it for work or not? He replied he would call off as his work is understanding with it. He also explained why he was wanting to work and it appears as though its somewhat of a financial hardship condition as he depends on grandparents with little money at times and doesn't want to burden them further with his travel costs of gas/car/insurance/etc. Considering this and the fact that practice time will have to be moved due to weather and on short notice to boot, the decisions is easy for me. And I will likely go eat this evening where he is working and suggest the team do so as well. Kid is a great addition to the team so far, never played baseball before, and you wouldn't believe how far he's come, even put him in varsity game last night as DH and he ended up making it around the bases to score a run only to trip and fall over home plate and proceed to roll toward the out of play line...LOL. What a memory to add to a back and forth battle for the win.