All-Star Rules About Missing Practices

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We have a fine for excessive lates (arriving more than 10 minutes late more than 3 times) or more than 2 unexcused absences (less than 1 months notice, not attributed to emergency, injury or illness). These are circumstance dependent and we've only had to put fines against people 3 times this year.

We also have a "4 before" rule. Coaches can use their discretion, but if an athlete misses one of the 4 practices before a competition for any reason, coaches have the right to remove them from the routine. They also have the right to leave them in.

At the end of the day, people are going to do what they do, and there are always situations and circumstances where the rules or policies don't fit.

We've explained to our kids, the reason they haven't earned some of their upgrades is that people are missing. This has been explained to parents as well. We cannot continue to progress if people are absent, simple as that.
 
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We've explained to our kids, the reason they haven't earned some of their upgrades is that people are missing. This has been explained to parents as well. We cannot continue to progress if people are absent, simple as that.
I love this. Kids and parents alike need to know that there are consequences for their actions...including not placing well at competitions, not progressing in skills, even not making the team they want to make next season.

CP's team has had a bit of a rough year due to absences, teenage bickering between the girls, and an overall lack of maturity and dedication. I so hope the coaches and owners will take a look at those aspects, not just cheerleading skills, when they do placements later this spring.
 
I love this. Kids and parents alike need to know that there are consequences for their actions...including not placing well at competitions, not progressing in skills, even not making the team they want to make next season.

CP's team has had a bit of a rough year due to absences, teenage bickering between the girls, and an overall lack of maturity and dedication. I so hope the coaches and owners will take a look at those aspects, not just cheerleading skills, when they do placements later this spring.

They need an intentional team culture, sounds like they just let it happen instead of driving it in the direction they want it to go.
 
For this very reason (as well as a season ending injury but I’d made up my mind before that) I’ve had to leave a team mid season. I’m in college and I was enrolled at a programme close to my university. When I started the season I didn’t have the intention of leaving mid season or missing practices but I was offered a lucrative internship half way through the semester which would significantly increase my employment chances after graduation. Things with this internship began to increasingly conflict with training times so I had to take the decision to step down from the team as it was unfair to miss practices because I had other things going on. Yes I committed to the team before the Internship, but in this instance my career had to come before something that is really only a hobby at this point. My feelings with this situation is that it is fairer to leave so that someone can replace you (which in my case there was another athlete waiting to come back to the team) or the team can rework things and carry on training instead of you leaving a hole there every so often. People may not agree with me but I thought I’d add my two cents just to provide an different kind of example to this.
 
For this very reason (as well as a season ending injury but I’d made up my mind before that) I’ve had to leave a team mid season. I’m in college and I was enrolled at a programme close to my university. When I started the season I didn’t have the intention of leaving mid season or missing practices but I was offered a lucrative internship half way through the semester which would significantly increase my employment chances after graduation. Things with this internship began to increasingly conflict with training times so I had to take the decision to step down from the team as it was unfair to miss practices because I had other things going on. Yes I committed to the team before the Internship, but in this instance my career had to come before something that is really only a hobby at this point. My feelings with this situation is that it is fairer to leave so that someone can replace you (which in my case there was another athlete waiting to come back to the team) or the team can rework things and carry on training instead of you leaving a hole there every so often. People may not agree with me but I thought I’d add my two cents just to provide an different kind of example to this.

It shows your respect for the team, maturity and knowing your priorities at this point in your life.

Attendance is about respect, there are no athletes sitting on a bench that can jump into any spot at any time. Every teammate has opportunities to travel, go to concerts, be involved in other things, and most choose to be at practice or quit if it's a priority such as yours. It's unfortunate, but it's the few that always feel their opportunities are more important than everyone else's that are often the team's biggest roadblock. And parents, if your going to lie and do your own thing, at least tell your kid your a liar and to stay off snap chat for the day.
 
Our old gym had a policy that was never ever enforced. Kids missed all the time, even for months on end during the summer. It was so frustrating to be the parent that says "we can't go on spring break, you have to practice for Summit" when other kids were going on vacation and just missing practice. I hated that it wasn't enforced.

New gym has a super clear policy that is looser in the summer but pretty darn strict starting in August. As a rule follower, I love it. Expectations are super clear, as are consequences. Kids do not miss practices.
 
It shows your respect for the team, maturity and knowing your priorities at this point in your life.

Attendance is about respect, there are no athletes sitting on a bench that can jump into any spot at any time. Every teammate has opportunities to travel, go to concerts, be involved in other things, and most choose to be at practice or quit if it's a priority such as yours. It's unfortunate, but it's the few that always feel their opportunities are more important than everyone else's that are often the team's biggest roadblock. And parents, if your going to lie and do your own thing, at least tell your kid your a liar and to stay off snap chat for the day.

Thank you for the kind words on this. I've always been told that any decision you make in life can have an impact on others as well as yourself (especially within the context of cheerleading) so always think things through before you decide to skip something or take an opportunity on. In this case there was an athlete that wanted to be on the team but couldn't as there wasn't a spot available. I was essentially holding a spot when I was having doubts about whether I wanted to keep it, so its better to step aside and let the person who wants to be there have it. The team deserve full commitment as opposed to someone who has their focus elsewhere.
 
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