really good player can only practice part time

[kcdeer]

Maybe talk to the kid and Dad again, say missing what 40% of the games on your schedule is unacceptable.  He will probably play 60 hockey games and be playing through Easter..missing 4 hockey games is no big deal, especially in September and October.  Offer to talk to his hockey coach, he should understand.  It's not making the kid make a choice, it's making the parents make a choice..if you want to play in this Select Elite Development League, then your football development and playtime will be minimal.

[Coach Kyle]

Matt

As tough as this would be I'd have to let him go.

No sport is a part time sport. If it were an issue whereas he is missing one practice per seek then maybe I could deal with that. Missing all of those games is what would do it for me. I'd rather not have to deal with him on game day even though he could make a difference. Not fair to the team.

We have this issue on occasion with Hockey. Maybe that is what you are going thru too.

He admitted....football is not his main sport so I'd cut him loose.

Coach Mike

Whoa, these are kids. I don't think those decisions need to be made until at least high school. Even then, I remember a soccer player who did the same thing on our high school football team. Some kids 5 sport in high school.

[mahonz]

Whoa, these are kids. I don't think those decisions need to be made until at least high school. Even then, I remember a soccer player who did the same thing on our high school football team. Some kids 5 sport in high school.

Kyle

These are MS kids attempting to play 2 team sports during the same season....and missing alot of time. 

I'd cut em loose. Although I like Johns idea...put it to the team.

Coach Mike

[elarse]

They are kids, let them be well balanced.

[Wettstein]

I've had a few of these cases over the years...it can be handles in a few options and the parents have to be able to supervise the development of the kid - however, you as a coach have to hodl to your principles.  Two examples;

Ronnie - parents loved baseball, but the kid fit into football much better.  They wanted him to continue playing "fall ball" and hired pitching coaches and batting coaches.  They let me know at the beginning of the season that baseball was his number one sport and he would miss practices and maybe games.  I informed them that he could participate on the team, but only as a mpp becuase I had to give time to kids that gave 100% to the team.  They said they understood, but were upset that he wasn't getting more playing time than lesser talented players.  He didn't finish the season, never developed into a pitcher for the varsity team and quit baseball before his senior year becuase he didn't like sitting the bench.

Clark - almost the same story.  His parents vowed to make every practice and game that was possible.  Throughout the season, he often ran from one practice to another.  Never missed a game, I think maybe missed one or two practices.  I allowed him to be a starter becuase he and his family made the decison to give 100% to everything he did.  Not to mention he made staright A's in school.  He probably sucked at XBox - oh well.

All depends on the situation - however if a kid cannot give 100%, then others on the team who can and will, deserve to be the starters and leaders of the team.  Othersise your integrity as a leader will fall apart.

[gumby_in_co]

..missing 4 hockey games is no big deal, especially in September and October. 

My thoughts exactly.

[CoachDP]

We've got a part-time player.  Kid's a kicker.  Nailed 27 out of 30 XPs at yesterday's practice.  He's also a full-time soccer player.  Will miss some practices and games but will be available fulltime when the play-offs roll around.  Kid is a straight-A student and gives his all at each practice.  Parent and kid also told me what their sked was before he signed up, and asked me for permission to play.  They told me if their sked was too much, then they wouldn't sign up.  Gotta like it when parents ask permission first and then explain their conflicts beforehand.

--Dave

[rodnok1]

Sorry man.  Can't let that one go.  My son loves hockey and he loves football.  Neither one of us had anything to do when one starts and one finishes.  I'm an old hat at juggling overlapping seasons.  Our rule is that the one that started first gets priority.  Then it's up to me not to make stupid decisions and try to minimize the overlap. 

My son plays competetitive roller hockey from March to August.  That's when it is.  His team won a Bronze medal at AAA nationals and he won the fastest skater for his age for the 4th consecutive year.  Kent, my HC understands that this may interfere with football.  This year was particularly bad as we missed the first week. 

He just had ice hockey tryouts.  Again, I can't control when they have tryouts.  It's a 3-day tryout.  Since football was already going, I told the hockey folks that he would be missing the last day.  A bunch of know-it-all dads told me that if I wanted him to have any chance of making the top team, he had to be there for the 3rd day.  I replied, "Ok, then he won't make the top team."  Well, he made it, despite missing the 3rd session.  Now, his coach and the director understand that he'll be missing some practice due to football.  My son and I understand that he'll be missing some playing time due to missing practice.  I fully support the coach on that.  I was up front from the beginning about our commitment to football and if that wasn't okay with them, they didn't have to select him.

To suggest that he choose one or the other at age 11 is crap.  That was the attitude of the last organization he played with.  Now they get to figure out how to stop him from scoring.

I guess this is a sore spot for you yes? I'm just thrilled for your sons success and part timing it.
He's not talking about missing a try out or a few practices here...
Practice time and game attendance is very important, if the coach is ok with a part timer so be it. I would also let the parents know he will be very limited on playing time for exactly the reasons of not attending practices and games. I wasn't putting this on the kid by the way, I think the parents should be involved greatly is his decisions.

[mahonz]

Im surprised so many say let it slide.

My question would be…how do parents even get their kids into these situations? Pick one or the other. Football is football season, hockey hockey, baseball baseball….etc.
 
Simple.

If Hockey and LAX and Baseball are becoming year round sports….do one or the other half the time.

Simple.

Maybe I will start missing practice and 3 or 4 games because I like to Golf. Bet that wouldnt fly with any of you Headers.

Hey come...on...let me be a Grandpa...you knew that going in.

BS! 

Coach Mike

[gumby_in_co]

Im surprised so many say let it slide.

My question would be…how do parents even get their kids into these situations? Pick one or the other. Football is football season, hockey hockey, baseball baseball….etc.
 
Simple.

If Hockey and LAX and Baseball are becoming year round sports….do one or the other half the time.

Simple.

Maybe I will start missing practice and 3 or 4 games because I like to Golf. Bet that wouldnt fly with any of you Headers.

Hey come...on...let me be a Grandpa...you knew that going in.

BS! 

Coach Mike

I guess it is simple.   Jr won't play for any coach who won't make an allowance for him to play 2 sports.  There are plenty in both sports who will take him. 

[gumby_in_co]

I guess this is a sore spot for you yes? I'm just thrilled for your sons success and part timing it.
He's not talking about missing a try out or a few practices here...
Practice time and game attendance is very important, if the coach is ok with a part timer so be it. I would also let the parents know he will be very limited on playing time for exactly the reasons of not attending practices and games. I wasn't putting this on the kid by the way, I think the parents should be involved greatly is his decisions.

I see.  So it's on me now.  I'll continue to allow him to "part time" it and will also continue to look myself in the mirror every morning with a clear conscience.  BTW, we don't track this kind of thing, but I'll wager that even with missing a week of football practice at the beginning of the season, my kid still misses fewer practices over the season than anyone else on the team.  Consider that sometimes, he's going straight from hockey to football and vice versa and I'd say no one can match his dedication.

[mahonz]

I guess it is simple.   Jr won't play for any coach who won't make an allowance for him to play 2 sports.  There are plenty in both sports who will take him.

Lar

So how do you deal with the conflicts? Its never a problem with the slight season overlaps that happen but not full on coinciding seasons. We have a player playing Hockey...that big QB. I do not care as long as he never misses a football practice or a game but he did show up for game one dog tired because of Hockey.

It’s a bit reckless in my book. If the kid gets hurt he affects two teams.   

Coach Mike

[Coach Moody]

I have a simple policy, if you miss a practice for ANY reason (except overnight school function), you do not play 1st quarter. If you miss two practices you do not play that week.  I don't care what the reason is, sick, church, doctor's appt, playing hopscotch with sister, etc. That is the rules. If I know upfront some kid is playing travel ball, I aint happy about it but since I aint first dibs, then he aint either. I will let him play as long as he practices but he aint starting anywhere. Period. I can't depend on him being there. But I would let him play as long as he can meet the practice requirement and do the job. I have one kid that shows up every now and then. He knows when he is gonna miss a game or a quarter do to his practice. But he performs well when he is there. But he will never start until he straightens up...

[Coach Moody]

I had a momma call me yesterday and tell me her son was sick and had to leave school and he probably wouldnt be at practice. I said well I hope he gets better. She said (i am pretty sure she was just checking to see if I would let him slide) well he's concerned about missing first quarter. I said well it's just one quarter.  The kid was at practice that night. This guy is a beast that starts on both sides of the ball..

[gumby_in_co]

Lar

So how do you deal with the conflicts? Its never a problem with the slight season overlaps that happen but not full on coinciding seasons. We have a player playing Hockey...that big QB. I do not care as long as he never misses a football practice or a game but he did show up for game one dog tired because of Hockey.

It’s a bit reckless in my book. If the kid gets hurt he affects two teams.   

Coach Mike

The sport that started first gets priority.  Football was first, so I made a commitment to Kent not to miss any football because of ice hockey.  He missed the 3rd day of a 3 day tryout to attend football practice.  A lot of guys "in the know" told me there was no way he'd make AA if he missed a day of tryouts.  I was fine with that and so was he.  Turns out, he only needed 2 skates to make an impression.  He was willing to miss a team-building at the coach's house (former NHL'er) to attend practice.  As it happened, the hockey activity was in the morning.  They hiked and did outward-bound type stuff for 3 hours, followed by another 3 hours of playing at the coaches house.  Then it was off to football practice, dog tired.

This spring/summer, it was roller hockey from March to August.  Nationals were in August, which coincided with the first week of football practice.  We were there the first day of football for evals, then got on a plane for Chicago the next morning.  We missed 5 practices, returned on a Tuesday and made it to Wednesday's practice.  Kent knows we do this tournament every year.  Sometimes, it's over before football and sometimes it's not.

With ice hockey, I was pretty much going to let him play house (rec) league, which is 1 practice per week and one game per week.  At the level he plays, there's no way a rec coach is going to run a practice that benefits him.  Plus, it's understood at the rec level that the focus is on fun and participation.  Practice is less than mandatory, so he played house last season.  The director approached us about trying out for travel.  I explained the football situation. 

His words: "Have fun with football and we'll see you when it's over.  If ANY of my coaches gives any kid crap about playing another sport, he won't be coaching for me anymore." 

So I wanted to be sure we were on the same page and I asked, "We're talking about AA, right?"  He replied, "Absolutely.  See you in November when football is over." 

So Jr has a free pass not to practice hockey until November.  Jr made the decision to attend every hockey practice where there isn't a conflict.  He'll miss about 1 practice in 4 per week.  He'll undoubtedly miss some games.

Yes, he's dog tired sometimes, but the point is, he's there.  As far as getting hurt?  Please.  The major injuries I've seen in the last two years that kept kids out of sports have been from skateboarding, playing tag, falling off the jungle gym (or whatever they call them nowadays), walking into a support column (required 15 stitches), dog bite, etc. etc.   They're kids.  They fall off of things, run into things, and get bit by things.