Opinions

I can say this much, in my son's high school they address one of your questions specifically:

"COMPETING ON NON-SCHOOL TEAMS IN SEASON
High School student athletes first commitment is to the school program and the team. If conflicts arise, athletes are required to compete on the high school team."

Opinion? I have one...

When it comes to sports and you're on a team... you should be "ALL IN" until that season is over.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
Opinion? I have one...

When it comes to sports and you're on a team... you should be "ALL IN" until that season is over.

Boy do I ever agree with that statement. Too many parents have their kids playing more than one sport per season. They are not committed to one and they miss time in all.


I also found this among our Section's policies:

"Seasonal Sports Participation – Students may not participate in more than one sport in one season."

I'm with PG on this one and it effects my son.

Mine is a Frosh on varsity and a pitcher only. He is a very good hitter and infielder. He could play with a travel team, which many have asked, as a position player and they could use his bat. But, I tell him it's not fair to his high school team to risk an injury. He will not play travel until the high school season is over.

I find the question of this type of thing being "allowed" by the school interesting, I have never heard of any school wide policy either prohibiting or allowing either way. What would the punishment be? If you play on more than one team and the school finds out your get banned from participating from the school's teams? I think it should be up to the coach of each sport. What if there is a player who excels at one sport that is obviously their main priority, but also plays other sports at the school and may have to miss some events for this travel/club games of their main sport? Like in your example, our high school had an Olympic athlete in one sport who also played other sports at the school but would have to miss them occasionally to be doing things for that Olympic sport. Should they be banned from participation? Seems like a blanket rule would not be the best option- the best interest of the players and the individual sports could be damaged. I doubt if that player in your example has to miss a basketball practice or two for s****r but is otherwise a model team member and good player they should be banned from participation by the school.

I believe if you are playing a school sport that should be your 100% responsibility. You dedicate your time to that school, that coach and those teammates and not to any other club team for the same or other sport during that season.

However, to take that stand as a school, it leads to a double edged sword. I see more of a problem with HS coaches not taking this same stance once their season ends. If a HS coach asks for a player’s 100% commitment in season for HS, once their season ends the player, the club or travel coach, and travel teammates should get the same in return. That means not enforcing a must show up for HS summer game in lieu of your travel team for baseball or must attend a 7 vs. 7 football scrimmage in July during the height of travel baseball season. I see way too often the HS coach will not give what he or she wants.

The policy within the school doesn't have to be universal, and I can see an argument that this really doesn't apply to all sports. Maybe the two sports run together in that program and the player is trying to secure a scholarship for either at college.
Can you explain why you used a female as an example?

You are talking about HS extra curricular sports.

I don't see why a HS player cannot participate in 2 different sports at one time, not the same. If the coach makes rules you cannot miss practice, then that's the rules and the athlete has to choose which is more important. People, even kids are allowed to make choices. There are some sports that because of practice and playing time it doesn't allow time for other outside sports. Plus there is chance of injury and some don't want to risk it.

JMO.

quote:

Originally posted by AGDAD19:
I'm with PG on this one and it effects my son.

Mine is a Frosh on varsity and a pitcher only. He is a very good hitter and infielder. He could play with a travel team, which many have asked, as a position player and they could use his bat. But, I tell him it's not fair to his high school team to risk an injury. He will not play travel until the high school season is over.

Most states don't allow outside participation in same sport during season, the scenerio was about playing a different sports outside of HS at the same time.

In our state it's against the rules to play for another team until school season is over.

Bullstein.

Why should anyone stop anyone from playing games anywhere? Who gives them that power? Bunch of tin hat dictators who need to be taken down a few pegs.

What is this the USSR circa 1978? Comrad You will play what we say when we say. Kapish!

Absent any school policy, I think it is up to the coach.

If I were the coach, I think I would address it with a policy requiring X number (or percentage) of practices to be made in the week or 10 days prior to a contest in order to be eligible to play in that contest. Absolute, bright line rules or bans rarely work or address every situation, and I'd rather have some wiggle room to address individual situations individually, but within a fair and objective framework of rules.

Even if the athlete meets those kinds of rules, if the coach doesn't think the player is committed enough, or hasn't practiced enough, then the coach should have absolute discretion to not play the player, or limit his/her playing time.

As for changing the policy with a new AD/coach, I don't think that is a problem UNLESS it is done mid-stream. Parents need to be able to make decisions and plan for their player's participation, so changing the rules mid-season (or even pre-season, but mid-year) can be very disruptive, and unfair to the player and parents.

This happened with my daughter in her sophomore X-C year. She attends a small arts-infused curriculum alternative school close to home, but runs for the 4A HS that our son attends because the alternative school has no sports program. The X-C coach, who had allowed her to run on her own 2-3 times per week to avoid issues with different dismissal times and inability to get to practice, was replaced mid-season and the new coach refused to honor the arrangement we had. It was very difficult to make the adjustments necessary on such short notice.

Now, if the policy was announced during summer workouts, I'd have no problem with that and would have had plenty of time to make adjustments to conform to this coach's rules. If you come in mid-stream, however, I think you need to honor pre-existing agreements and policies, or at least be flexible enough to allow for a transition time.

I have no problem with with kids participating in other outside/club teams during a school season, IF it is entered into properly (school team coach is aware, conflicts are decided in the school team's favor, etc.) AND it is being done properly, not overloading a young athlete's ability to perform properly in either sport, impair academic performance, or just physically wear them down.

Two school sports at the same time, I can see a golf team member being on the football team as a kicker, a track runner being on the baseball team, a swimmer on a basketball team, where one of the practice sessions can basically be done "on their own" without impacting the performance of the team.

Otherwise, I'm in the school team coaches' corner, that during school team season, that set of rules apply.

I agree that if you want to be on the school team, you should be expected to participate in all the practices, games, events, etc. I have some trouble with studs in one sport (say girls s****r) playing another sport (basketball) in the off-season to stay in shape, but then want to miss practice/tournaments because there's an indoor event somewhere else. And what about the player who may have been cut and is replaced by this part-timer?

My opinion is similar for the families who thought they were going to schedule a spring break vacation and were stunned that there are games and practices during that time. We've tried to explain that it's a very short season and the coaches get very little prep/practice times with the players. The message: the coach owns you during the season. And yes, in our public school district that does actually mean the Saturday before and the Monday after Easter.

I don't believe that a school can or should regulate what a student does after school in regard to this this topic. However, the big commitment is to the school and the athlete should make school the number one priority. Follow the rules.... bench warmers and studs alike. Injury due to overuse is an issue, parents and athletes have to use some commonsense.

I know a student who made the basketball team her freshman year. The day after she was asked to play on a prestigious travel volleyball team. She spoke to the basketball coach and in the end decided to not play basketball. The coach, rightfully so, wanted a 100% commitment. The student could not do that. Basketball was a hobby, volleyball paid for college.

If baseball or s****r or basketball season ever ended then I could see your point but these season's never end. You play 12 months a year. Now, most club teams take a break for the high school season but say you play more then one sport, you will have club/high school during same time.

In the olden days, high school games were only on week days so other events could be on weekends but that isn't even true anymore. Besides football, where club isn't really an option, for most sports, club is more competitive and provides more qualified coaching. It has also been in my experience a more fair environment with less politics then high school. I would pick club if push came to shove and so would my son.

But, again, season's never end so there will constantly be conflicts unless a kid only plays one sport and I think thats wrong until far into high school and even then, only for the athlete who will play at the next level and must sacrifice the fun of multiple sports.

quote:

Originally posted by 55mom:
I don't believe that a school can or should regulate what a student does after school in regard to this this topic. However, the big commitment is to the school and the athlete should make school the number one priority. Follow the rules.... bench warmers and studs alike. Injury due to overuse is an issue, parents and athletes have to use some commonsense.

I know a student who made the basketball team her freshman year. The day after she was asked to play on a prestigious travel volleyball team. She spoke to the basketball coach and in the end decided to not play basketball. The coach, rightfully so, wanted a 100% commitment. The student could not do that. Basketball was a hobby, volleyball paid for college.

I don't understand all this commitment to school and team discussion. Was the team better off without this young lady on the basketball court? If this young lady was that talented she almost certainly would have made them better. If so I'd submit the coach made a mistake by putting an inferior team out there for some nonsensical rule that you are too good an athlete and can play more than one sport and I can't allow that. If that sounds stupid to you....that's because it is. It's High School sports for God's sake not professional sports.

Thank you everyone for the responses. I haven't been able to read through them and will do that tonight. As for the question - why did I choose a female athlete (I think TPM asked this) - no real reason. Pretty much all examples are done with male sports / athletes and I'm asking this question from an overall sports perspective and not just baseball or just a male sport POV. I wanted to try and emphasize it's all athletes and sports.

There is a reason for why I'm asking but I won't be able to reveal it for a couple of weeks. I appreciate your patience if you're curious about why I'm asking.

In PA a varsity athlete needs permission from the PIAA to play a sport outside their school during the season. We had two Team USA athletes in our high school. They needed a state waiver to compete outside the varsity environment.

Neither coach or any of the players had issues with these two kids leaving to travel the world representing their country. One received an offer from Man U. The other will be in the Olympics this summer.

In the past few years there have been s0ccer players kicking on the football team who have missed the opening kickoff due to distance between stadiums and travel time. S)ccer would play at 3:45 on Fridays. Football starts at 7:00

luv,

I'm not the parent of the child here, and I don't know the details except that she had to choose one or the other. It's possible that missing Friday nights were the issue. iirc, the family was understanding, no hard feelings were ever expressed to me.

quote:

Boy do I ever agree with that statement. Too many parents have their kids playing more than one sport per season. They are not committed to one and they miss time in all.

If a coaches goal is to field the best team he/she will allow multisport players on their team. The best athletes often play more then one sport. If you force the good athlete to miss important primary sport events, he/she won't be playing on your team and everyone will miss out. I can understand how some might believe they aren't 100% commited, however the simple fact is they are 100% commited to helping their school teams be the best they can be by giving up thier limited time in exchange for the coache's recognition that they have a chance to play another sport in college and may need some accomodation at some point. My son's HS was very succesful with multiple sport players not able to make all the workouts. The other coaches were very happy to get as much time as they could from the players. 3 of the basketball starters on my son's team had D1 scholarships, only one was to play basketball. Contrast my son's school to another local school that doesn't allow multiple sports, they are really good in football and terrible at every other sport as the football coach rules the school.

oh... maybe I should mention this: Scotty McCreery is on the Garner baseball team while touring America with Brad Paisley. He played this past Saturday and struck out 2. (One a DI commit) I guess some can do it all! :-)

http://www.newsobserver.com/20...-mccreery-happy.html

quote:

If baseball or s****r or basketball season ever ended then I could see your point but these season's never end. You play 12 months a year. Now, most club teams take a break for the high school season but say you play more then one sport, you will have club/high school during same time.

That is partially the parents' fault to begin with.

I had this discussion last night with a parent/daughter and then had a similar conversation with the coaching staff of that sport. From my standpoint it is completely illogical to play a school sport and a club sport at the same time. I think that it is inappropriate for an athlete to not make her team and teammates a priority.

We've talked about it before here in a baseball/football concept. The ability to play a football Friday night and then turn around to play a baseball doubleheader on Saturday. If you're playing much in a football game on Friday night, your body really needs to rest on Saturday and Sunday. Not go out and play baseball all weekend giving your body no recovery time.

It has been my experience that this scenario as offered up by coach is more often a female sports problem rather than a male sports problem. That's not to say it doesn't happen in the male sports, but the two worst sports that I see creating this headache are s****r and volleyball. Baseball and softball are close behind...

Your all in for a certain sport during a specific season. No others. If your not your short changing ourself your coach and your team. I know why it's a question in today's environment but it should not be. Say you play baseball six days a week and want to play club s****r on Sunday's? Great while the rest of the team is giving their young bodies and minds a much needed rest on Sunday your playing s****r burning up your legs, now it's Monday your tired and legs are fatigued and your speed is gone so you get rung trying to steal second on those tired legs. Did either team really get your best?

For me this comes down to what we want to teach our children. I have had this situation occur to some degree this year. I believe that I am trying to develop young men that can be sucessful in life. All of them will need that skill, few will continue to play ball. It is important to learn about commitment. In our society today we want everything. Few learn that you must be willing to give up something in order to do your best. I only allow my own son to commit to one sport at a time. He can choose the sport, but only one. Dedication, focus, and commitment will get you far in life and in relationships. Doing whatever we want, when we want, without thinking of others gets us into trouble. A player's teammates count on that player to be there and to be healthy. When they are involved in another sport, focus on that one. Sports ADD does not help a kid learn to focus in life. My player had a parent call me and apologize and ask permission to play in a national tournament that he was invited to play in for s*****r. He was going to turn it down because he would miss one practice. I told his parents that I totally respect his commitment but that it sounded like a once in a lifetime opportunity. They agreed and promised this would not be an issue for the rest of his career and we agreed that he would sit out a game to allow those that were there a chance to play. Everyone agreed to this and things were solved. But in life, if we are not willing to make sacrifices to acheive our dreams, we will never achieve true greatness. Off of my soapbox now.