FO...you are correct. He's not on the team; that was my misstatement. The proper question is "Do I keep him when he tries out?" He probably has the physical talent to make the team, but he knows my rule that if you have 3 unexecused misses, you are off the team. He wants to make the team knowing he will miss 4 or 5 games and a couple of practices.
And if I keep these two players, I will probably have to cut 2 other players who would not miss any of the practices/games.
As for this being "school first" 20dad: this is not a requirement. It is a voluntary school trip that the kids have to pay for; not all of the Spanish class students go on the trip. I'm not sure how it is any different from a baseball trip? The school would never let us miss 3 or 4 days of school to go play at Yankee stadium, I guarantee you that!