Fanofgame....my comment about the players was just the truth that sometimes having a rule and sticking to it is more painful in some years than in others.
If these two players were less-skilled players or kids who probably wouldn't have made the team anyway, it would have made me grumble less. When these players, who might have contributed to some extent, made their choice, it certainly made me unhappy as a coach who wants our team to do well. Any time you have a player who could help you, and you lose him, doesn't it make you a little unhappy?
I understand my own rule, and I know that it can result in this type of situation. It just makes it that much tougher when it was a player who you never expected to be in this situation.
Coincidentally, since all this has happened, I've looked at our team and I don't think we're losing as much as I first thought; I think it opens up some opportunities for some younger players who may prove to be more talented than the players who we lost. A lesson I learned a long time ago, but might have kind of forgotten: Sometimes there is addition by subtraction.