Attendance Policies And Enforcement - Guidance Please

[Coachofcheer]

Hi everyone. I would love it if some of you could take some time to reply to this question. I have been hanging around the boards for a little while now (as in 1.5 years as an unregistered user only) and finally have a question to post.

I have searched for forums about attendance policies and gone through them all. Lots of people have posted details about their attendance policies, but my question relates to how they are enforced. If there is a forum in this vein and I have missed it, please direct me to it.

Let’s say, for example, that ABC Allstars’ Attendance Policy states that after three unexcused absences, Suzy has to miss the next competition. Suzy misses four practices and is therefore removed from the next competition. There is no-one in the gym that can replace her. The routine needs to be re-choreographed and since Suzy is now not in the routine, her group stunt now needs to be dismantled and put as front spots on other groups (no front spots before this). Suzy is also a good tumbler and jumper and the routine places need to change as she is not in this comp. It all seems like a lot of effort to replace Suzy and in fact seems more detrimental to the team to do so, than to not do so. What are your opinions on this?

Continuing on with the situation; the competition has now passed and Suzy has waited out her suspension. How does one then go about re-incorporating Suzy into the routine? The places need to change again, wasting another precious lesson, confusing the students and taking a lot of the coach’s home time to make sure the transitions for everyone are seamless. Since the group Suzy was a part of can now reform, their places in the sections before and after the stunt will have to change (spread out on different groups as opposed to together near their stunt group location). Suzy would probably be put at the back, causing minimal disruption to add her into the routine, but the rest of her stunt group’s changes will certainly be more disruptive. What happens here? What if the next competition is 2 weeks away? 4 weeks away?

Would a better idea be to remove Suzy from stunts? She would have to prove consistency by coming to 6 consecutive weeks of training (no absences excused or unexcused), once that consecutive period has ceased, Suzy is not guaranteed a stunt position. If the places suit, she may be put into a stunt sequence but it is not guaranteed. There are also difficulties in this in regards to the rest of her stunt group and all of the problems above in regards to replacement. Does Suzy train the stunt sequences during her 6 week stunt performing ban? If Suzy’s team is not competing for another 10 weeks is it worth changing the places and not allow her stunt group to train for 6 weeks just to have them only train for 4 weeks close to the comp?

Additionally, I have a few isolated questions in regards to absences.

· Suzy has school camp for the week leading up to a competition and will miss the last two practices. The camp is not graded, but typically everyone goes. Or Suzy has Prom the lesson before the competition. Suzy doesn’t tend to have too many other absences. What do you do? If Suzy is taken out of the routine, the routine has to be re-choreographed etc.

· Suzy’s mom will not bring Suzy when she is sick. You can say that they must have a doctor’s letter but let’s face it, it costs money to see a doctor just to get a letter about cheer practice. I don’t think too many mom’s will be happy about that. The coach isn’t quite sure if Suzy is actually sick, or if her mom is lying on her behalf.

· Should a student miss a school awards night, a school trip, a family member’s wedding etc to attend cheer practice? It is so disruptive when students miss practice but I am not sure that any of these things should be given up for cheer? Do you really think it is reasonable to expect this level of commitment from students and their families?

Attendance policies are not black and white and there are so many issues to contend with. When responding to this post (and thank you very much for doing so) please keep in mind that the gym is not in the USA and cheerleading is still quite new, and unlike anything else known to the parents. The gym, whilst good for its state and this country, is quite small and often pulling someone to cross team is not an option. In the end, it is a behaviour switch that needs to occur, but with so many new parents that attend the club each year, the education has to happen again and again. The parents have to sign the policies before they join, but in doing so the parents are scared off before they even understand what cheerleading is and realise how much their child is going to enjoy it. The soft approach has been tried whereby it is explained how disruptive an absence is to the team etc and doesn’t seem to have worked.

I would be grateful for any guidance on any of these issues. Sorry the post is so long, it is quite multi-faceted and I didn’t want to not give the problem its due but summarising it into a paragraph.

 

[cupieqt]

That's a whole lotta questions. My policy is pretty simple:
Over the summer we practice once a week (plus a tumbling class once a week). You're allowed 3 absences. Hardship cases are considered if they need to miss more than 3 but vacations, trips to the local water park, cramps, etc are not valid reasons and you'll be dismissed if you go over 3. Not just a sit out/time out...dismissed.

During the season (once school starts back) you're allowed 6 absences. They must be medical, family emergency related, graded school event or other hardship causes. If you miss more than 6, you are obviously not at the same commitment level as the rest of the team and you will be dismissed with only unused competition fees refunded. *You will not just sit out of one competition--that is too much extra work for one un-dedicated member.

Since we DO have older girls that cheer for school and they practice and have games during the week, we have one 1.5 hour Thursday night practice that they're allowed to miss (but ONLY for games) and then a 3 hour mandatory practice on Sunday evening. No absences allowed other than for the extreme reasons listed above. Homework is NEVER a valid excuse.

No other sports or activities are excused and we only excuse school cheer bc we would lose a lot of great girls to school cheer if we weren't flexible. The schools around us that compete don't allow their girls to do all star too so games are our only conflict with our school cheerleaders.

It is simply too difficult to have a strong team without everyone at the same level of dedication. We can do more with 10 girls that are always present than 25 minus 1 at every practice.

 

[cupieqt]

Sorry for the double post but even though you're in another country you'll be rewarded for being tough. Being small is not a hindrance unless you let it be one. You can wish all you want but unless you MAKE things (like attendance) be what you want it to be, it will never happen on it's own.

 

[NoDramaCheerMama]

Our gym doesn't make athletes sit out competitions but instead charges $5 for every practice missed. They let those $5 charges build up all season and then charge you at the end of the season for all missed. It is very motivating for parents to get their kids to the gym! This doesn't apply during the summer months however. Once they get their choreography in August it kicks in. Also, I can't imagine flyers missing practices often. It is so competitive in our gym that flyers never miss for fear they'll be replaced.

 

[CheerBank]

Our gym doesn't make athletes sit out competitions but instead charges $5 for every practice missed. They let those $5 charges build up all season and then charge you at the end of the season for all missed. It is very motivating for parents to get their kids to the gym! This doesn't apply during the summer months however. Once they get their choreography in August it kicks in. Also, I can't imagine flyers missing practices often. It is so competitive in our gym that flyers never miss for fear they'll be replaced.

That's a very interesting idea, but it still doesn't help when a kid doesn't come to practice especially close to competition and then their stunt group cannot practice or half the pyramid can't go up.

 

[ceanz-victoria]

These are all very much valid questions and ones that our small gym has had to contend with. Like you, we have tried many approaches. Our most successful yet is a contract system whereby every cheerleader and their parents sign an agreement at the beginning of the season in regards to attendance. From there, we operate on a five-strikes-and-you're-out policy. If you miss a practise for whatever reason, one strike. If you're late, half a strike. With there being five chances, legitimate absences should not cause you to be kicked off the team.

 

[Ems]

My team has a pretty strict system, but I really like it. Our coach will give us calendars/let us know practice schedules/important dates usually about 3 months in advance. You have to attend everything, or you get a strike. Your only excuse is you are in the hospital sick/immediate family death or wedding/something serious! We have to let the coach know of anything that we might even miss something as soon as possible. However, if there is a last minute change in the schedule, and you can't make it for work/prior obligations you'll be excused but the coach won't be very happy. Miss a game/competition, you're off the team, no ifs, ands or buts.

The best thing is though, that the coach holds to it. While it sucks sometimes, and usually everyone gets a strike because there are just some days where you can't get off work or a broken down car, it makes everyone really serious. Whatever policy you pick, you have to be strict. Make the policy very clear at the beginning of the season. Parents will complain if their child gets in trouble, but will certainly love it when their child comes home complaining she didn't get to do anything because her flyer/base/backspot didn't show because she had too much homework.

 

[CheerBank]

My team has a pretty strict system, but I really like it. Our coach will give us calendars/let us know practice schedules/important dates usually about 3 months in advance. You have to attend everything, or you get a strike. Your only excuse is you are in the hospital sick/immediate family death or wedding/something serious! We have to let the coach know of anything that we might even miss something as soon as possible. However, if there is a last minute change in the schedule, and you can't make it for work/prior obligations you'll be excused but the coach won't be very happy. Miss a game/competition, you're off the team, no ifs, ands or buts.

The best thing is though, that the coach holds to it. While it sucks sometimes, and usually everyone gets a strike because there are just some days where you can't get off work or a broken down car, it makes everyone really serious. Whatever policy you pick, you have to be strict. Make the policy very clear at the beginning of the season. Parents will complain if their child gets in trouble, but will certainly love it when their child comes home complaining she didn't get to do anything because her flyer/base/backspot didn't show because she had too much homework.

I think that is the be-all, end-all for any attendance policies to work, or all rules for that matter. For coaches out there: say what you mean, and mean what you say. Once you open the door to bend the rules for one person, or don't follow through on the consequences you set for your teams and your gym, people will know there will always be a way to get around something.

 

[Perkyninjamomma]

I wish our gym had stricter guidelines. We DO have them..they are not enforced. We had a girl on our Jr co-ed 3 team last year (A FLYER) who missed every Sunday practice (which is a 2 hour practice) so she could go to soccer. Then would miss 30-40mins of practice during the week for dance. Then the coaches would question why the stunt group was always having problems and why that girl was so far behind. Parents complained. We were sick of paying the money for comps and ending up in 3rd-6th, etc. As a parent, my cp is only 8. If she is that sick, she is not going to practice. But I also have a responsibility to the team and gym to make sure she is at many practices as possible, especially once the season starts hardcore (august) I like the idea of charging money..maybe it would kick them more in the butt ;-)

 

[retiredl5cheer]

Our gym has a policy that if an athlete misses the practice before a competition, they are pulled from that competition. We are always able to find someone from another team to fill in for stunts and nugget in the back for dance. Parents may be angry, but they are told at the beginning of the season, so they can't complain.

 

[INeverStopCheering]

· Suzy has school camp for the week leading up to a competition and will miss the last two practices. The camp is not graded, but typically everyone goes. Or Suzy has Prom the lesson before the competition. Suzy doesn’t tend to have too many other absences. What do you do? If Suzy is taken out of the routine, the routine has to be re-choreographed etc.

· Suzy’s mom will not bring Suzy when she is sick. You can say that they must have a doctor’s letter but let’s face it, it costs money to see a doctor just to get a letter about cheer practice. I don’t think too many mom’s will be happy about that. The coach isn’t quite sure if Suzy is actually sick, or if her mom is lying on her behalf.

· Should a student miss a school awards night, a school trip, a family member’s wedding etc to attend cheer practice? It is so disruptive when students miss practice but I am not sure that any of these things should be given up for cheer? Do you really think it is reasonable to expect this level of commitment from students and their families?

I'm going to focus more on these questions. Overall, you're right. Saying that you're going to "bench" a child often becomes an idle threat because it's simply too much of a hassle to do so. In regards to the above.

• School events are a very big part of kid's lives. I don't exactly know what a school camp is, but if it's a right of passage sort of event, I would not hold it against her to go. Same with prom, especially if it's just a practice. This year my prom fell on the weekend of U.S. Finals. I had to drive down Sat a.m., coach 2 teams, drive back, get ready and go to prom, and then drive back down Sunday morning. There are ways to work things out if you try hard enough.
• Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about this. Especially because some things might leave her sick enough not to come to practice, but not really merit a doctor's visit.

 

[Babs]

After reading all these replies about attendance consequences I think I like the idea of moving the athlete in question out of any highlighted skills they may perform in the routine.

Athletes have plenty of opportunity to have more than 3 or 5 missed practices between when they get their choreography and when they go to their first competition. So, if Suzy goes over her absence limit in September do you hold her out of a November competition?

If you have available athletes to substitute for Suzy at a competition, great. If you don't then you are kicking yourself and your team having to change the routine because of Suzy's absences.

I think instead after the stated number of absences has been exceeded, if Suzy is closer to the front in jumps and dance, move her to the back. Take her out of her tumbling pass (and I'm talking about at practice long before a competition is coming up). Things that will affect primarily her and not the entire team.

Then tell Suzy after improving her attendance it's possible for her to earn a role similar to her old role in the routine, but only if the team will benefit.

Regarding school camps, proms, etc. --- isn't that why there are X number of unexcused absences in the first place? If you are going to excuse those absences then what are the unexcused absences supposed to be used for?

 

[Babs]

Final point is regarding other sports. Yes, it makes sense to work with the school cheer coaches and allow for missed time at practice due to school cheer (but hopefully limited amount bc you set your practice schedule already knowing the school cheer schedules). So, if you have boys who play football should those be excused absences too? To not discriminate by gender, and also encourage more boys to get or stay in cheer? It's the same season as football cheer so theoretically one football absences shouldn't be any more disruptive than school cheer absences.

But ... what about the girl who is on track, or plays soccer or softball? Suppose she's just going to be late to practices on meet/game days? Are those unexcused?