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Post by wolverine55 on Feb 21, 2023 16:01:57 GMT -6
My high school allowed for two "vacation" days when I was a student because it was understood that almost everyone would use these days the two Fridays of shotgun season. Most of the boys actually hunted and most everyone else still used these two days, because otherwise they would be sitting around in classes with free days all day.
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Post by realdawg on Feb 21, 2023 17:40:03 GMT -6
I had a newly hired DL coach leave during the middle of the first practice bc his wife called and there was a bee in the house.
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Post by larrymoe on Feb 21, 2023 19:08:41 GMT -6
Some schools in Illinois close school for that. |
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Post by larrymoe on Feb 21, 2023 19:10:36 GMT -6
The one that always got me was missing a spring practice to get fitted for a tux for prom. Not like the mall was open till 9 and we were usually done by 5:30 or 6. To be honest, I'd have skipped spring "practice" too. I'm sure that two hours 6 months before the season completely sabotaged the season. |
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Post by bignose on Feb 21, 2023 19:13:17 GMT -6
I had a coach leave a summer retreat practice when his wife called and told him that she was ovulating, and to get his butt home!
In a similar vein, I coached with a guy who told the kids that they could miss a practice if they were getting laid!
I have no idea how he confirmed this.
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Post by larrymoe on Feb 21, 2023 19:17:07 GMT -6
Some that i've had either as a player or coach Word Series Parade Dentist appointment Doctor appointment Birthday party for someone else Overslept Girlfriend was sad My Jr year, Dan Quayle visited my hometown on the campaign trail. They had a big rally on the square. We had practice and I think a few fringe kids skipped. I was a two way starter and in retrospect, I wish I'd have gone. It would have been far more memorable than pretty much anything that happened that season. |
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Post by Defcord on Feb 21, 2023 19:22:51 GMT -6
Some that i've had either as a player or coach Word Series Parade Dentist appointment Doctor appointment Birthday party for someone else Overslept Girlfriend was sad My Jr year, Dan Quayle visited my hometown on the campaign trail. They had a big rally on the square. We had practice and I think a few fringe kids skipped. I was a two way starter and in retrospect, I wish I'd have gone. It would have been far more memorable than pretty much anything that happened that season. I am from one county over from Dan Quayle. You didn’t miss much. But there is a Dan Quayle museum in Huntington, IN if you need to settle your regret. |
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Post by larrymoe on Feb 21, 2023 19:25:26 GMT -6
My Jr year, Dan Quayle visited my hometown on the campaign trail. They had a big rally on the square. We had practice and I think a few fringe kids skipped. I was a two way starter and in retrospect, I wish I'd have gone. It would have been far more memorable than pretty much anything that happened that season. I am from one county over Dan Quayle. You didn’t miss much. But there is a Dan Quayle museum in Huntington, IN if you need to settle your regret. It wasn't really that I wanted to, or needed to see Quayle. It was more of a regret of missing a shared community event that is still discussed so I coul go run the same 5 plays over and over and get yelled at just to get beat by 3 touchdowns that Friday. |
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Post by olliebaba14 on Feb 21, 2023 19:49:43 GMT -6
I had to miss a practice my freshman year on Labor Day Monday because we were at our cabin and my dad didn’t want to drive me back. I was PISSED- I didn’t have to condition though because I told my coaches the truth ( plus I was mediocre!)
Ones I can think of OTMH that are ok
- driving test(I get it and if I’m the HC and they tell me no problem)
- ditto with appointments
-sick from school(automatic reduce PT but no penalty when healthy)
- death in immediate family(no penalty)
- medical emergency.
No go
- girlfriend is sad
- hair cut
- playing cod(Kyler Murray smiles)
- getting stoned in the parking lot rather than practicing.
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Post by fantom on Feb 21, 2023 20:26:56 GMT -6
I had a coach leave a summer retreat practice when his wife called and told him that she was ovulating, and to get his butt home! In a similar vein, I coached with a guy who told the kids that they could miss a practice if they were getting laid! I have no idea how he confirmed this. Had a semi-pro coach tell us that any guy dumb enough to get out of bed with a woman to come to football practice was too dumb to play for him. |
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Post by CS on Feb 22, 2023 4:48:50 GMT -6
I forgot this one. Had a kid come in the office and say he couldn’t practice because he just got a perm and it couldn’t get wet
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Post by canesfan on Feb 22, 2023 6:05:01 GMT -6
Had a summer practice move late due to heat (8-10 PM). A kid told me he had missed it because he wasn’t allowed to come as practice went past his bedtime. He wasn’t lying.
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Post by coachcb on Feb 22, 2023 8:08:15 GMT -6
Half hour before practice:
Bobby: "I'm going to miss practice for the next twp days. I have ACT prep with my tutor."
Me: "Uhh...Okay.. Aren't the ACTs in the spring"
Bobby: "Yeah, but I'm taking the pre-ACTs at school on Thursday."
Me: "Alright but I don't know that we'll call that excused, buddy."
Bobby: "The ACTs are more important than football"
Me: "Okay, I need to get to practice."
Called mom that night and found out that a) she was his tutor, b) she was helping him after she got off of work and c) he just couldn't be tired from football practice when he studied.
Long story short, he quit after I told him he'd be benched (as per policy) for the next JV game. Thankfully, the bosses agreed with me as Mom was thoroughly p-ssed.
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Post by spreadattack on Feb 22, 2023 8:43:04 GMT -6
I was coaching in a rural area and had 2 guys tell me a few years apart that they would need to miss practice and when I asked why, they said they had to leave right after school to get to the city several miles away for high-profile concerts. And, when I was a head baseball coach at one high school, my starting catcher (w/ JUCO and/or college playing potential) told me after practice that he would "need to miss the game tomorrow (against a BIG rival) to take his GF to the AC/DC Concert about 40 miles away from our small town. I told him that would not be a wise choice. When he failed to jog through the gate for pregame on game-day he cut himself from the team. Sad thing is, several 2- and 4-year coaches contacted me about him and I would not give him a glowing recommendation. I simply mentioned that he had a problem with choosing priorities and that sport was not high on his list, and that his work-ethic was marginal. He received no offers. Great story, though a small part of me wishes you'd run into him and he'd say, "I hear you and maybe I could've played in college, but that AC/DC concert was AMAZING, and I regret nothing"  |
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Post by Defcord on Feb 22, 2023 8:43:36 GMT -6
The other one that used to drive me nuts was when they would have a blood drive at school and all of our kids would go to it so they could get out of practicing.
One year I told them I would set a date for after the season if they really wanted to give back so that way they weren't missing practice. Everyone was at practice, when the date rolled around no one wanted to hop on the bus and head to the Red Cross.
I am a big believe in donating blood and giving back, but I am not a big fan of kids using it as a way to not participate. Just another reason I hated being a head coach.
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Post by Coach.A on Feb 22, 2023 9:02:53 GMT -6
Start of practice, kid walks up to me in street clothes and I ask "why aren't you suited up?"
The kid lifts up his shirt and he has big red dots all over his chest and belly.
I ask: "Did you have an allergic reaction?"
Kid: "No, I got laser hair removal on my chest today and I can't sweat for a couple days".
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Post by 3rdandlong on Feb 22, 2023 12:27:09 GMT -6
When the Dodgers made it back tot he World Series for the first time in a long time, "the Dodgers game" was a big one. This was a big one for us too. Was always a nice distraction when the community fireworks would start going off during practice to show that the Dodgers won. |
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Post by 3rdandlong on Feb 22, 2023 13:03:35 GMT -6
One Unexcused absence meant make up conditioning after practice, possible demotion-loss of PT. Second equaled sit out a game and make up conditioning after a practice. Third meant what I heard them saying was "I don't want to play football for our HS this year" (three Strikes and you're out) and we would accommodate them by taking up their equipment. Playing HS Football should teach kids how to make-carry through on a commitment, be self-disciplined, and part of a TEAM. When kids refuse to do those things or want those rewards, time to cut them loose. Fortunately, because we made our expectations very clear before season started, we had very few problems in that area. I love these rules. Are these in-season rules? What do you do about out of season misses such as spring and summer practices? |
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Post by blb on Feb 22, 2023 13:08:38 GMT -6
3rdandlong We didn't have Spring Football in my state and were not allowed to make Off-Season activities (summer) mandatory. Attendance policies kicked in with first official practice in August, so In-Season.
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Post by 3rdandlong on Feb 22, 2023 13:17:22 GMT -6
3rdandlong We didn't have Spring Football in my state and were not allowed to make Off-Season activities (summer) mandatory. Attendance policies kicked in with first official practice in August, so In-Season. Thanks for the response. I agree with some of the posters on here who don't put too much stock into a lot of spring and summer practices, however, in Southern Ca. it's the norm and if you're not doing it, you are getting a bad program perception at the very least and very behind your competition at the worst. So, I have a policy of 80% spring practice attendance and 80% summer practice attendance in order to play for our football program. |
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Post by 19delta on Feb 22, 2023 13:32:02 GMT -6
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Post by coachwoodall on Feb 22, 2023 13:34:10 GMT -6
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Post by 19delta on Feb 22, 2023 13:38:00 GMT -6
The other one that used to drive me nuts was when they would have a blood drive at school and all of our kids would go to it so they could get out of practicing. One year I told them I would set a date for after the season if they really wanted to give back so that way they weren't missing practice. Everyone was at practice, when the date rolled around no one wanted to hop on the bus and head to the Red Cross. I am a big believe in donating blood and giving back, but I am not a big fan of kids using it as a way to not participate. Just another reason I hated being a head coach. When I was in the Army, I donated blood every chance I could. We would get the rest of the day off If we did. 😂 |
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Post by 19delta on Feb 22, 2023 13:39:00 GMT -6
The scoring is the reason it’s undefeated. 😂 |
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Post by 19delta on Feb 22, 2023 13:44:44 GMT -6
Up until about 10 years ago, the county fair started the same week as two-a-days. We would always have a lot of kids miss practice because they were showing livestock. The fair was a big deal so the coaches didn’t complain about kids being gone.
A more disturbing trend I have noticed is girls on our school basketball team missing practices and even games for club volleyball. I hate club volleyball. So glad we didn’t have daughters for that reason alone. 😂
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Post by 19delta on Feb 22, 2023 14:15:49 GMT -6
Best (worst?) coaching story about missing practice…
I was a volunteer assistant coach at a small school program about 15 years ago. It was probably Week 4 or 5 and the Cubs were playing an early afternoon game up at Wrigley North (Miller Park at the time). Our HFC’s family were big Cubs fans and he was taking them to the game. I think it was a 1pm start and a midweek game so he wasn’t going to to be at practice that evening.
Most of our coaches were volunteer guys who came and went as they pleased. We never knew who was going to be there. That evening after school, there was going to be 2 of us at practice, me and the OC.
The two of us discussed it and decided that we were going to get stuff done and have the kids out of there ASAP. We usually had these marathon practices. 3+ hours was normal. So, our thinking was that if it wasn’t important enough for the head coach to be there, then we weren’t going to keep the kids there for the usual long practice.
We started practice at 3:30pm and we were pretty much done and wrapping things up by about 5pm. So, the kids are walking off the field on the way up to the locker room when we see the head coach’s car come tear-assing into the parking lot. I kid you not, I’m pretty sure that he went on two wheels when he made the turn into the parking lot.
He stops his car on the driveway the kids have to cross to go back into the building. He gets out of his car and starts waving his hands in the air and shouting. He’s literally herding the kids back out to the practice field. The kid can’t believe it and me and the OC are just incredulous.
But, he succeeds in getting the kids back out on the field and sure enough, he keeps us all there until almost 7pm. And because he just got there, he’s all fired up and enthusiastic. The rest of us…not so much.
That was my least favorite year ever in coaching. We took a team with 7-2 talent and ended up 3-6. The last game of the year, we were playing an 0-8 team. Had a chance to finish 4-5, which would have been our best record in about 10 years. Well, our kids were done. They wanted nothing to do with football any more. They mailed it in and we lost 28-0.
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Post by coachwoodall on Feb 22, 2023 14:57:24 GMT -6
Up until about 10 years ago, the county fair started the same week as two-a-days. We would always have a lot of kids miss practice because they were showing livestock. The fair was a big deal so the coaches didn’t complain about kids being gone. A more disturbing trend I have noticed is girls on our school basketball team missing practices and even games for club volleyball. I hate club volleyball. So glad we didn’t have daughters for that reason alone. 😂 Oh chyt, I almost forgot. I worked at a rural school that FFA was a big thing. The FFA national convention was held (maybe still is) right smack dab in the middle of the season. We always had 1 or 2 that would be gone for a week. |
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Post by fantom on Feb 22, 2023 15:32:46 GMT -6
Up until about 10 years ago, the county fair started the same week as two-a-days. We would always have a lot of kids miss practice because they were showing livestock. The fair was a big deal so the coaches didn’t complain about kids being gone. A more disturbing trend I have noticed is girls on our school basketball team missing practices and even games for club volleyball. I hate club volleyball. So glad we didn’t have daughters for that reason alone. 😂 This happened because the team was short-handed after a girl skipped a JV game to play for her club team: www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/portsmouth/churchland-jv-coach-player-reaction/291-f0de9f9e-d3e1-4a95-b8f0-6d5606fdac36 |
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Post by larrymoe on Feb 22, 2023 15:42:38 GMT -6
He stops his car on the driveway the kids have to cross to go back into the building. He gets out of his car and starts waving his hands in the air and shouting. He’s literally herding the kids back out to the practice field. The kid can’t believe it and me and the OC are just incredulous. But, he succeeds in getting the kids back out on the field and sure enough, he keeps us all there until almost 7pm. And because he just got there, he’s all fired up and enthusiastic. The rest of us…not so much. I'm definitely continuing into the building and going home. |
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Post by 3rdandlong on Feb 22, 2023 16:02:13 GMT -6
Covid and the pandemic made missing practice so much easier. In California, we had 2 seasons in 2021, 1 in the spring (5 games) to make up for the non-2020 season and the traditional one in the fall. During the 5 game season, we had to test and guys missed practice like crazy. We didn't do much in terms of accountability becasue we were just happy to be playing. HUGE MISTAKE!
Those guys who were Freshmen during that season are now going into their senior season and they act like they had loose rules as Freshmen.
Had a kid last season who- after all covid restrictions loosened- said he had to miss practice because his step dad was around someone he worked with and he had covid so they had to be safe because his mom was pregnant. I caught hell when I held him to the standard and sat him for missing a week's worth of practice. And I should add that I lean left politically.
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