Offseason/Summer workouts--Mandatory?

^{2) Unofficially "mandatory", meaning that it is against rules to "require" students to be there, however the culture of the program is such that peer pressure basically makes the events "mandatory"}

Ours could be a "Voluntary with positive rewards" too... 80% attendance means no 12 minute run (which we haven't done in over 10 years anyway).

We had out first day of summer conditioning this AM. Every player was there but two: one is at Boys State and will be back Wed., the other is staying with his dad in Wisconsin for two weeks... but he did get the workouts before he left and had called once and emailed twice to touch base.

^{Question. What if you have a kid that doesn't come to the voluntary summer sessions and he comes to the fall camp and is head and shoulders above those kids that have been at the workouts? Will you still not let him play on the team or put him at the bottom of the depth chart?}

Rarely have we had such a case... however, once that player satisfies all of the requirements (i.e. if he misses conditioning he will have to successfully complete the 12 minute run... for most it takes 5-10 attempts)... then he may compete for a position, and if he is the best, he will be the starter. Until he does that, he is still "in the process" of earning his way on to the team. The 12 min run is not the same as 40 days of conditioning... but some of our guys think the 40 days is a much better deal than running laps for 12 minutes, so while it is not really a fair trade off, most of our kids think it is.

I'll agree with dcohio here too:

^{Where do you draw the line? If it's OK for one, shouldn't it be OK for all 70?
If you say it, then mean it, and follow through on it or don't say it to begin with.}

Wherever you draw the line, it needs to be consistent for all. I will give any kid a chance to work his way on to the field... but I'm doing him a disservice if I give him a position he hasn't rightfully earned.