I'm trying not to be mad......

Basketball should come before all other sports. Period.

 

I kind of agree with OP, but I see the flip side as well. I just know that at some point, I'll tell my daughter, and God willing my other kids, that it's time to commit. So if overlapping is a possibility they'll need to commit to one or the other and focus fully on it.

 

Me too, but it won't happen in the 5th grade. Maybe not until high school.

That's when they will tell me that are fully committed to whatever they choose.*



*music and golf

 

Curious....why doesn't the opposing coach just give you a player? Or you both play 4 on 4, when you need to rest someone. There is little to gain playing 5-4. The game changes too much

So the clock doesn't stop, except for a timeout? It keeps running as RM95 says?

btw: is their a shot-clock. If not, time to teach your kids to play the 4 corners offense when you want to rest someone. Stall!

 

Don't be mad. In this day and age, it's hard for that age group to commit to one activity with so many other activities out there. For your team, it's baseball, for others, it's choir or boy scouts, or whatever.

 

I understand this line of thinking, but in this situation it's really hurting the other kids when you can't even field a full team. What's the point? I'd be very mad if I was codell after volunteering my time to do this.

 

I ran into the same thing coaching soccer up until the kids were 15-16 and they started committing full time to a a particular sport. I knew going in that a handful of kids would have conflicts with various activities, especially when baseball season kicked in. We had games where 11 kids played the entire game and a couple of games where we only had 10. They loved it.

 

Welp looks like its time to bring in cousins, neighbors kids to come and sit on that bench. But anyway, should be an amazing learning experience. not just for you but the boys as well.

Use it as a moment of teaching 'efficiency' -> run more set plays, slow the game down, depend more on each other skills.

When I was in that age range we had it easy, had a dude who was probably 5'11 and was 200lbs and could actually shoot. We won the championship and everything lol. I had the most assists. He's now playing pro football but those were fun times.

 

Maybe Basketball is too Urban for those kids.

 

Overlapping sports will get worse.

It's not on the kids or the parents. Possibly the leagues have to plan better -- but that's really tough. Kids are specializing too early anyways.

Just ask that you be told as soon as they know. My son's league allows limited call-ups from a lower level if they apply early enough. One year they had to forfeit a game but then they shared players with the other team and played anyways.

You shouldn't be mad unless they simply don't show up without letting you know. Your job is to make it so that they play, learn and enjoy.

 

long-time poster codell just getting hammered in his own thread. Kind of hard to watch, but I can't look away. Who would have known that clutchfans is full of parents who sign their kids up to play in 2 out of every 3 games?

 

not hammered....at least I hope not.

Just observations from parents who've gone through this.

Keep up the good work codell! Huge respect for parent coaches.

 

Yeah, I'm honestly surprised too. I guess I never really came across anything like this in my 13 years of playing sports. We had people who would miss the beginning of the season due to other sports, but never the end of season because of the start of another. Just because people do it doesn't mean it's not rude or puts the kids who keep playing in a spot to where they're not getting as much out of it.

 

But, you did have players who were playing multiple sports and missed games in one sport due to games in the other sport - or did I misread your statement? In essence, you seemingly experienced the same thing Codell did.

The main issue I see with Codell's predicament is that the parents and/or players weren't up front with their kids schedules. As a coach, I would be upset if they weren't forthcoming, but I wouldn't be upset at that age group having various activities.

The only time I did get upset was when one of our soccer/baseball players missed a soccer game and when I asked how his baseball game went, he said they were rained out. I told him that our soccer game wasn't rained out. Needless to say, the next time he was able to attend a soccer game, he got to sit and watch his teammates the entire game.

 

This happens to us in Baseball every year, and basically, we try to find kids, and Parents, that are going to understand that playing on a team is a commitment and that they should try not to bail on their teammates when they need them... and then deal with it when it inevitably happens.

Usually we are found scrambling at least a game or two and a tourney or two getting temp replacements. A lot of times, the problem is that the kids that have skills are often playing every sport they can get their hands on. So it's a balance.

There are still problems with it every year, but we try to reinforce what being a committed teammate means, up front, and deal with the eventual conflicts.

Yeah, it irks us coaches, but you can't expect kids to not play something that overlaps by two weeks out of several months... we just hope to help them prioritize and reinforce finishing what you started, being their for the team, etc.

All that said, I'm talking about younger kids, and a 40 minute basketball game sounds like you might be talking about kids that should have zeroed in a little better what they can and should be committed to. Though as i recall, even Bo Jackson had trouble balancing two sports and the commitments they entailed.

good luck, try to prevent it, and deal with it with a level head knowing you can't get everyone on the same page all the time... you can only do so much, and ruling out some of the kids that won't follow through probably would leave you with a lesser team for longer.

 

This is always our peeve, and something we do deal with. Generally, as someone said, when it happens, we use it to teach the lesson of commitment and teamwork, to the offenders before and after, and more importantly to the committed kids who are left hanging due to the others who do things like this. After all, it's not just about the sport and winning, it's about having fun and mixing in some life lessons where you can.

 

Dear Codell,

It happens, i coach youth soccer, and not recreational soccer. I have 18 players on my roster. I had 9 at practice last night. I have started games with 8 and 10 players. Be vigilant with inquiring about their other commitments and be patient and just know the long term goal is teaching the game.


Sincerely,
Don't be mad I feel ya

 

Only at the beginning. So football always ends after basketball begins. I never saw people leave in the middle or before the end of a season for another. In little leagues, the only time I recall this happening was over spring break because of trips.

If I ran a league, I'd try to find that out during the registration process. Put all these people on the same teams so the team can just disband once they find better things to do. But for those who paid money for their kids to play in this league and now find themselves at the end of the year without enough kids to field a legal team, it's crappy. Never mind the amount of time codell took from his personal life to coach.

 

if it's only a few games left, and baseball is just starting up 5th and 6th graders should be able to make games. Possibly not practice. (we talkin' bout practice?)

I'd talk to the parents. Lay the guilt trip on them if you have to.

 

Oh one more thing, we don't allow that start of a new season until finishing the season they are already in. If they quit, they can not participate in the next sport until season ends for the sport they quit. Once again, this is for uil hs sports.