Policy on missing practice

At my school, we have a policy where if we miss practice, we need not show up to practice ever again (sickness obviously being an exception). Man the F up.

Don't like the rule simple - leave the team. Nothing is forcing you to stay.

I think the rule is good - you miss practice and now you have to do something that might help the teams future(help the freshman who may need aid with thier classes and work in the office I am sure help with recruiting).

Your choice is simple 1) never miss practice

2) miss practice do what is asked

3) leave the team

No matter what you pick strap a pair on

It suprises me that a coach would treat college students like children. You're and adult and if you run for a serious program, you should have some sense of responsibility. If it's a casual program, your coach needs to lighten up. How many of you run for the team because it's fun? Do you have scholarships? If you're running of a scholarship, you should do what is expected of you. Otherwise, it's your own business if you miss practice.

I am so tired of people saying D2 is so bad. Is D2 really that different from D1. Don't we go through the same experiences that D1 people do. We work just as hard as you do. Usually at least the first couple runners, if not more, from each team could be in a good D1 program. Not to mention the D1 programs out there that aren't even that good.

Trust me your D1 experience was not any harder than my D2 experience. I put in the miles just like you did and made all the sacrifices. I just did it with less to gain.

So tell me what really is the difference? You may be a bit faster on average, but does that suddenly make you a better person? No it doesen't. If you need to beat down on D2 runners to make yourself feel better you have problems. My guess is that you probably are not that good of a D1 runner and want to make yourself feel like there are so many worse runners out there ie. D2.

I mean seriously this thread has nothing to do with you and yet you felt the need to totally disregard the topic and tell this guy that he sucks. Only people who are elitist nazis feel the need to walk around telling everyone else they suck to make themselves feel better. My suggestion for you and the rest of you D1 elitists, is to get some self esteem. D2 runners are not as bad as you think they are.

You sound like a "time out" child. The sooner a coach can teach an athlete to take sport seriously the better. The should be fun argument actually made me laugh out loud. It is fun to improve and in order to do that you need to be at practice.

As a general rule of thumb, rules are usually set in response to an action that is deemed undesirable. Without being there everyday, I have no real way of telling, but I would hazard that apparently the coach feels there is a need to implement a new policy in order to cut down on what he now feels have been excessive absences without perhaps valid excuses. He may be feeling taken advantage of because of a more lenient/more adult/personal responsibility policy in the past that has been exploited.

Personally, I know how this can feel. Several years ago I was coaching a couple of runners who came to me and told me that they had to miss Tuesday practices because that was the only day they could get math tutoring. At the time, we had to use a local HS track, and Tuesday was the only day we could get access to it, so we typically scheduled our track sessions for that day. I agreed that the tutoring was more important, and we agreed that I would just give them the workout to do on their own.

Until the Tuesday I was driving to practice, and came across the "Tutorees" riding mountain bikes down the road. Seems the Tuesday tutoring sessions were just an excuse to not come to practice and do whatever they felt like. More investigation revealed that these two "5K" runners were actually among other things, doing 26 mile long runs to prep for a marathon, without ever mentioning it to me...so I was always scratching my head wondering why they seemed so fatigued all the time on Mondays, etc., why all the 5K and under race times were way off, so forth.

My point is this - not pointing a finger at you, but look around you, and maybe you will see why the coach has changed his policy.

no one in d1 at least at my school ever misses practice its just not a problem and it rarely is ever spoken of Even kids who are sick come and if u dont you will get shit for it from the guys d2 is for pussys

yeah well, I attend a D1 school and if we are late for practice, my coach makes us roll around in the grass for about 100m...no joke! he goes for the "I'll embarrass you so you don't do it again" method.

fun for you is improving, maybe that's not what everyone thinks. comraderie is fun for some, maybe people are there for the social aspect. Perhaps they don't make running their #1 priority and when something else comes up that is more important, they chose that. I'm not one of those people, but I think they exist. And I'm not sure what you mean by a "time out" child. If you are referring to a type of nurturing, you're confused. The point is, there shouldn't be much nurturing after 18. like i said before, you're an adult.

you're an adult wrote:

It suprises me that a coach would treat college students like children. You're and adult and if you run for a serious program, you should have some sense of responsibility. If it's a casual program, your coach needs to lighten up. How many of you run for the team because it's fun? Do you have scholarships? If you're running of a scholarship, you should do what is expected of you. Otherwise, it's your own business if you miss practice.

I recommend you look up the word 'commitment.'

you're an adult wrote:

It suprises me that a coach would treat college students like children. You're and adult and if you run for a serious program, you should have some sense of responsibility. If it's a casual program, your coach needs to lighten up. How many of you run for the team because it's fun? Do you have scholarships? If you're running of a scholarship, you should do what is expected of you. Otherwise, it's your own business if you miss practice.

What the heck does running on scholarship or not have to do with it. If you are part of a college team you made a committment to be on that team and follow the rules that the coach has. I treat my scholarship and non-scholarship athletes the same way, both with discipline and perks. Some of those non-scholarship athletes become scholarship athletes. I would hate to see what would happen to the team philosophy if a coach made team rules that only the scholarship athletes had to follow.

Also, what does being an adult have to do with this. Doesn't your boss have rules that you have to follow, even if you are an adult? Doesn't the government have rules and laws that you have to follow even if you are an adult.

Isn't school important?

What if you have class during practice time?

Sometimes uninterruptable lab work runs late, or exams are given at off hours, or other things etc. get in the way. Not every institution is "athletically committed" enough to permit team practices to serve as "block-outs" in the class scheduling algorithm or some classes only offer one section.

Anyoine who just says "practice dominates" could do himself a favor by Googling "Robert Smith Ohio State Premed."

You are correct - there should not be much nurturing after age 18, which is why you punish or boot a college athlete that misses practice.

You obviously haven't coached before, or if you have, you weren't very good. Coaching 8 year-old co-ed soccer doesn't count.

If running is fun, why would a kid want to miss practice?

Answer: because they are screwing around, or don't know how to budget their time.

What if you are receiving $20,000 per year from an athletic scholarship?

Honors Student wrote:

Isn't school important?

What if you have class during practice time?

Not only is school important, that is obviously why you are at college in the first place, or at least it should be and therefore it should be more important than sports. However, that doesn't mean you can just skip practice whenever you don't feel like showing up. Of course if someone has a class during practice time they are not expected to show up. Or if they have to meet with a professor and the only time they can meet is during practice time. But you will find that many college kids will try to take advantage of this if you let them. Sometimes a class is only offered during practice time and if it is a class an athlete has to take that sememster, there is not much you can do. But some of the less dedicated athletes will take a class during practice time that they don't have to take, just to get out of going to practice. It is all about the coach figuring out why practice is being missed and if it is a legitimate academic reason, you work around it. If it isn't, they should be disciplined or removed from the team. It is as simple as that.

Joseph McVeigh wrote:

Sometimes uninterruptable lab work runs late, or exams are given at off hours, or other things etc. get in the way. Not every institution is \"athletically committed\" enough to permit team practices to serve as \"block-outs\" in the class scheduling algorithm or some classes only offer one section.

I agree. Running competitively can be a full time job, couple that with a full class load and a balanced social life and many student athletes NEED a flexible schedule.

Balanced social life? You just lost all credibility.

Really! You mean D1 and D2 are not the same thing. There in different leagues or divisions. Well that must be what the 1 and 2 mean. Thanks for clearing that up. As I said before I went to a D2 school and we had the same rules for practice that most good D1 programs do. You somehow stumbled on a good point though. At your school that is how things are. You can't say that at all D1 schools all the athletes show up to every practice because you have no idea. Just like you can't say that all D2 programs have kids who just show up when they want to and run a couple of miles here or there. You have no experience and are just making a stupid conclusion based off of nothing. My college coach missed one practice in his whole college career and he expected the same from us. If you could not make it to practice you made it up on your own. I don't understand the concept of being on a college team if you are not even going to show up for practice. It's one thing if you have a legitimate excuse, but just make sure that you get it in later or earlier. I don't know why you wouldn't want to get miles in and get better. I don't see why you would have to have some disciplinary action as a threat to get kids to come to practice.

d1 a different league wrote:

no one in d1 at least at my school ever misses practice its just not a problem and it rarely is ever spoken of Even kids who are sick come and if u dont you will get shit for it from the guys d2 is for pussys