Good job. I think you did the right thing in this situation.

Seems very fair to me.I know if I were the parent I would appreciate your flexability

That sounds reasonable. You've made an offer and the ball is now in their court.

Well, if you go back to my post of several weeks back, you'll see I made an offer of compromise to that player.

Today, the player brought me a letter he typed that said he understood my policy, and he would be here for the Friday game, but would miss the DH on Saturday, and therefore knew he would sit out the next 4 games.

So I guess my offer was essentially rejected. This means that player will now miss about 1/4 of our season. I guess I just have a very different point of view than most folks that it is important to NOT miss games during your season unless it is absolutely necessary.

And I DO understand that it may be out of this player's control, and may be his Parent's choice, not his. But I guess I still just don't get that either.

Hey, it's a much more interesting world when we have people with differing ideas about things,isn't it?

My son (8th grade)has his tryouts next week for his middle school team. Don't know what's going to happen, just hope he makes it, as well that he goes on to make the HS teams! As a parent who's been going to baseball games since he was 7, I can't imagine missing 3 Varsity games that I could be watching him play. I totally understand there are sometimes reasons we can't make a game/practice, but they did have plenty of time to plan so that he could make atleast two of the games. Over the years of baseball there were always the kids that missed several practices and or games, and some of those kids have already dropped out of baseball (now 12-13yr olds). I'm not talking about rec baseball games either, but all-star & travel games. We've gone to all lengths to get our son to games & practices when situations arose. I know some other parents did too, but others just didn't have that same commitment. I feel bad for the kid because it may be out of his control. If the parents were "concerned" (I guess) I think they would have worked something out. I just know one day I hope to be able to watch my son play on his HS Varsity team. If he does he will most likely never miss a game or practice, unless he is very ill, or death in family, or something along those lines. BUT, that is just me though (and my husband)we've always been that way, even in our own jobs. I am not going to knock anyone who says let him go, don't penalize him. I am not saying my way of thinking is the right way. The truth is we all want to do the RIGHT thing by our children, and we just hope our choices are the right ones. It's all we can do. The jury is still out on whether we made all the right choices for our kids, there still growing up. I'll get back to everyone on that in about ten years! lol

look at it this way he misses a couple of games whatever the reason legitimate or not. The kid that replaces him plays well or even not. As a coach you still write in the lineup everyday. rewarding the other kid for playing well is a subtle message that may resonate louder than you think.

Is it not possible that when a kid misses games it is a sign he does not have the dedication needed ?

We have kids on our travel team who miss games due to college visit or other valid reasons but they inform us ahead of time so we can make the needed adjustments----but these are legit reasons

DEDICATION--we have had kids tell us they would be away for the weekend on a visit and then call us from the road saying they were on the way and would be there for the Sunday games---let me tell you that kind of stuff goes a long way in a recommendation when talking with a college coach