Personally, I spent from 1985 to 2000 here in Virginia coaching vball in the winter while girls wanted to play AAU basketball. I held the line. "No, if you’re a member of our team, you can't leave town on Friday afternoon. You know we practice every Fri & every Sat. No, if you want to play vball, then AAU will have to come second." The result: Most of the elite athletes in my school never touched a vball until my last year when I finally told a girl, "OK, if you are playing basketball on Friday and playing basketball on Saturday, I will excuse the misses of practice. (If you are traveling but not playing, I will not excuse you from practice). However, if we have a match on Friday night or Saturday, then you will suffer the same consequences as anyone else who misses a match. How is that? I have met you half way. If you’ll do the other half, then you can try out for the vball team."
Which way is better? Do not know. However, we must make these decisions not according to how many wins the kid is worth, but by
- how the decision affects the TEAM, and
- can we live the with decision
While head coaches are the boss, while we are free to implement any rules we want..........all of us know that if the majority of the team members agree, then everything will go smoothly. Therefore, if you make any kind of deal with any player, it was very important to have the rest of the team "on board.” But creating team rules, enforcing team rules, deciding on fair & adequate consequences…………that’s another article altogether.
Anyway, now to your situation.................” What do I do with the player?" Well, it is an individual coach’s decision.
- Some coaches would draw a hard line, as I did for 14 years.
- Some coaches would be OK saying, "Hey, just come when you can, give as much as you wish, and play in matches when they’ll work in your schedule. We'll be OK, no penalties.” I cannot live with that.
- Some coaches would make a deal like the one I eventually did.
Again, whatever you decide PUT YOUR TEAM FIRST AND PUT YOUR PEACE OF MIND SECOND.
