Rob T posted:cabbagedad posted:CaCO3Girl posted:cabbagedad posted:TEAM COMMITMENT
ONLY A KID ONCE
Scenario...
Your son is HS senior starting catcher and leading hitter on the team. There's a huge performance gap between him and the #2 catcher. Most of the team has come up through the program together and worked for three years building the team into a state contender. They pushed each other to work hard in practices, work outside of practices on their own, anything they could to accomplish their team goals. They are proud of their efforts, individually and as a TEAM. They made it to semi's last year and lost a tough one. Now, the work has finally paid off. Fought through some tough district and semi games and made it... State Championship Game. Bonus - #2 pitcher won the semi game and you have #1 lined up to start.
Your son and #1P decide to skip the game and go to prom. Really?
Okay, but the flip side - say the player in question was the end of the bench guy. Say he was valedictorian and was going to have to miss graduation? We could come up with hypotheticals all day, but I don't think we can definitely say one way or the other is carved in stone.
We always want our kids to honor commitments to their team - but there's got to be some sort of individual sliding scale as to what outweighs that commitment. I guess for some it's maybe a family member in a life threatening situation, for some it's a once in a lifetime trip, for some it's prom or graduation.
As for the seriousness of Flag Football... It's not a huge sport I guess, but they do work hard at it. The school went from only winning 2 games a couple of years ago to only losing 1 this year. I believe the senior girls would play, but it certainly stinks for them.
It also stinks for the rest of the school who would have definitely driven hours to go support the team - but not on prom night. Now it's just going to be parents in an empty stadium.
Yes, Rob, there are grey area issues and hypotheticals that can be difficult. The valedictorian scenario is a great one. Of course, family emergency or a truly important family anything would be an understood priority. We try to set the guidelines with our baseball program that the expectation is that baseball is priority during baseball season and we often have the players acknowledge their commitment to the guys lining up next to them. Then, we take each exception case by case. A good example is Easter break. We announce at the parent meeting that we play in an Easter/Spring tourney every year and players are expected to be there. Prior to HS, many families take vacations during that break. Well, we cannot function as a team if five or six families decide to go on vacation. It's part of the commitment. My desire is to create an environment where each player is aware and has every intent to commit to his teammates. Then, if an exception scenario arises, it can be discussed and weighed but not taken lightly. When every player is in this place, we have accomplished our goals in relation to team commitment, regardless of what final decisions are made.
For prom or graduation, I know my players would choose to honor their baseball commitment to their teammates and also want the opportunity to earn the payoff for the work they have put in and the excitement of winning a state Championship. There are several dances that happen during HS years. I think my players would come up with a creative way to re-enact the dance after the team quest.