dilema - Freshmen Football or Vacation??

[bigsis1970]

Hi Everyone, I think I might have a dilema on my hands .. I booked the free dining promo for Aug 19 -27 and in the fall my DS will be a 9th grader he is a football player and practice will start Aug 1 (i believe its 5 days a week) and from what I've heard (from his stepmother) he must attend camp Aug 15 to 17th (ok he can do that part) AND participate in double sessions for the week of the 22nd in order to play ..

Now I've sent a note to this year's Freshman coach who coached my DS in 7th grade and told him what I'd heard and if it was true. I'm still awaiting an answer but for now I feel to my stomach!! there is the option to leave my DS home with his dad - insert whinny voice and stomping feet - it's supposed to be a family summer vacation!!! Plus I would not want to leave him home - he is looking forward to going.. I feel awful making him choose but I do not want to cancel or trip due to a school sport when school hasn't even started

Does anyone know if I have to leave him home, which would change my package, will I lose the free dining??

Thanks for listening.. Michelle

 

[npmommie]

can you change the week of the vacation, so he can attend the football camp and go with you as well?

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Hi Everyone, I think I might have a dilema on my hands .. I booked the free dining promo for Aug 19 -27 and in the fall my DS will be a 9th grader he is a football player and practice will start Aug 1 (i believe its 5 days a week) and from what I've heard (from his stepmother) he must attend camp Aug 15 to 17th (ok he can do that part) AND participate in double sessions for the week of the 22nd in order to play ..

Now I've sent a note to this year's Freshman coach who coached my DS in 7th grade and told him what I'd heard and if it was true. I'm still awaiting an answer but for now I feel to my stomach!! there is the option to leave my DS home with his dad - insert whinny voice and stomping feet - it's supposed to be a family summer vacation!!! Plus I would not want to leave him home - he is looking forward to going.. I feel awful making him choose but I do not want to cancel or trip due to a school sport when school hasn't even started

Does anyone know if I have to leave him home, which would change my package, will I lose the free dining??

Thanks for listening.. Michelle

The only thing that would change is if you changed resorts or dates. By purely removing him from the reservation, that should not count against the FD promo.

As for the whole team thing... If he intends to commit to the football program (and others), be prepared for him to miss a lot of stuff.

P.S. - if you do have to switch dates, as long as 1 day of your trip is during FD, the whole trip should be.

 

[mamacatnv]

Welcome to high school football. We gave up on our summer vacation for 4 years due to the conflict. No practice often equals no play.
Our district requires all players to have X number of practice sessions under their belts before they are allowed to engage in "padded" play, thus the reason for the 2 a days practice prior to the start of the season.

 

[sue1013]

DH is a high school football coach I can tell you what would happen on his team. If there are cuts your son would likely get cut for missing. Even if there are no cuts he will be penalized in some way probably not playing the first couple games.

 

[jen0610]

Hi Everyone, I think I might have a dilema on my hands .. I booked the free dining promo for Aug 19 -27 and in the fall my DS will be a 9th grader he is a football player and practice will start Aug 1 (i believe its 5 days a week) and from what I've heard (from his stepmother) he must attend camp Aug 15 to 17th (ok he can do that part) AND participate in double sessions for the week of the 22nd in order to play ..

Now I've sent a note to this year's Freshman coach who coached my DS in 7th grade and told him what I'd heard and if it was true. I'm still awaiting an answer but for now I feel to my stomach!! there is the option to leave my DS home with his dad - insert whinny voice and stomping feet - it's supposed to be a family summer vacation!!! Plus I would not want to leave him home - he is looking forward to going.. I feel awful making him choose but I do not want to cancel or trip due to a school sport when school hasn't even started

Does anyone know if I have to leave him home, which would change my package, will I lose the free dining??

Thanks for listening.. Michelle

I can't answer the package question, but I feel for you and the dealing with a new beast.

High Schools and their schedules are something to deal with. Many, many, many have VERY STRICT rules. There is no bending. For our football teams, there is no bending. The first game of the year, is always before the 1st official day of school. Has been that way for years.

Our son is a freshman this year and does marching band. Back in May, boy was DH suprised to find out what their practice schedule was going to be like for the entire summer and fall months. From the time school ended, until the day school started, we had 4 weeks to do a family vacation. The week after school was let out and the last 3 weeks of July. My brother was in band, so I knew what it was going to be like. Ugly, for scheduling a family vacation and get him to church camp for a week.

Band is something my son wanted to do and we really want him to be active in something at school. Since this is one thing he wants to put time and effort into, we do everything we can to support that. So, no out of town/state week long vacation for us. We did long weekends and made the most out of it. Which I am sure we will be doing for the next several years, as DD wants to do colorguard.

 

[bigsis1970]

Oh this doesn't feel very promising at all.. He had a very tough year this year, he went from playing all the time in multi positions on the 7th grade team last year to a team in 8th grade as a second string kid and didn't even see any playing time in 3 games and less then 1 minute in 2 other games (out of the 10 game season) playing back up in only one position and he did not miss one practice or one game.. I am not sure he even wants to play but like i said we know the coach from our 7th grade team..

If i change the dates I lose the free dining which amount to another $1200 or so for my family so really that is out of the question. I guess I am glad i've not bought plane tickets yet and only put down our deposit if I have to cancel

Thanks I didn't think changing the amount of people would cause me to lose the free dinign but yea changing the dated would..

 

[Mkrop]

welcome to football, I am surprised you didnt realize this sooner. I would not have him miss the practices, esp not for HS level, I would be rescheduling so that everyone could go or we would not go.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I say suck it up and go on vacation earlier in the summer, even though you won't get free dining.

 

[VickiVM]

My daughter now is in Pep/Dance which falls under the Sports department in high school - she will now have summer camps and practices in anticipation of f/b games. They get demarits for not attending or tardiness which counts towards their grade (it's an elective and can count as PE credit). So no summer vacations for us in Aug.

Last August I reserved free dining for us the week before school started - which was the first week for the FD (my daughter had not registered for Pep at the time), but I cancelled and ended up getting a better deal for our family of 5. We stayed @ Wyndham Bonnet Creek resort which is within WDW gates (2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, etc) for $110/night and signed up for the YES program for our daughters and paid only $700 for 5 day park passes (no hoppers) for the 5 of us. Our entire vacation including all food costs, the cost of gasoline and 3 extra hotel nights driving to and back from Orlando was not over $2100 for 5 people. I will NEVER stay onsite again - even for free dining.

 

[scbelleatheart]

If you have kids in sports might as well forget vacations. Ours ranged in age so for 9 years, no family vacations. From track to baseball to football to basketball/wrestling/swim team then it's' track time again and throw in a few musicals. It's gets so difficult after 2nd grade. Thank heavens no one played soccer.

 

[LIDisneyFan]

Ditto ditto ditto

If your son is really planning on playing HS sports, give up summer, holiday, and 3 day weekends. My son started his entire season, missed one practice during a 3 day weekend (legal holiday) Disney vacation and never played again.

There is (at least in our schools) a certain amount of politics, etc. around who plays , gets 2nd string, etc. My kid is a highly trained player who plays(starts) 'travel/club' at a very high level of skill - meanwhile he was replaced by a kid (whose parent donates $$$ to the booster club) who does not have a great deal of skill.

Not sour grapes-just a wake up call that you need to develope a tough skin and huge amount of flexibility.

Good luck!

 

[MoniqueU]

welcome to football, I am surprised you didnt realize this sooner. I would not have him miss the practices, esp not for HS level, I 77would be rescheduling so that everyone could go or we would not go.

I am surprised she didn't know this sooner as well. We knew going in to freshman football not to have anything scheduled for that time or up into ther first or second week of deceber becaise pf playoffs/ Sports and other estracuriculars are that important to our family. It doesn't matter if my son had to bust his butt for 3 years and was on the sidelines most of sophmore year. My dd is going into freshman year this summer also and is heavy into water polo. We won't be scheduliong any trips for the summer because of this. School comes first to us and sports is a part of school in our minds. Our youngest is not an athlete but is probably going to do drama and we know she wil have to make it to all her requirements too. I am glad we vacationed when the kids were younger as at this age they really can not be pulled out.

 

[shortbun]

Here, the boys were not kept from family vacations in their freshment year as parents were unaware of the issues. The older boys families were expected to know. I've heard some programs were not so rational. I think the whole 'you must abandon your entire life for football' thing is insane. Most families don't worship anything like they are required to worship football - for children. I think it's ridiculous, dangerous and sends a really weird message to boys about what is important.

 

[luvmy3]

Oh this doesn't feel very promising at all.. He had a very tough year this year, he went from playing all the time in multi positions on the 7th grade team last year to a team in 8th grade as a second string kid and didn't even see any playing time in 3 games and less then 1 minute in 2 other games (out of the 10 game season) playing back up in only one position and he did not miss one practice or one game.. I am not sure he even wants to play but like i said we know the coach from our 7th grade team..

If i change the dates I lose the free dining which amount to another $1200 or so for my family so really that is out of the question. I guess I am glad i've not bought plane tickets yet and only put down our deposit if I have to cancel

Thanks I didn't think changing the amount of people would cause me to lose the free dinign but yea changing the dated would..

If thats the case then just ask him what he wants. If he is serious about playing then you will have to work around his schedule. If he doesn't want to play (this decision will effect the rest of his HS football career) then enjoy your vacation.

I say suck it up and go on vacation earlier in the summer, even though you won't get free dining.

FYI, not everyone is able to suck it up financially.

 

[golfgal]

If he wants to play football through high school, he needs to skip the vacation. It will always come back to haunt him, no matter what the coach may say now. If it ever comes down to him against another boy for a spot, his lack of "commitment" will be brought up. It is what it is.

We have about 2-3 weeks in the summer to do any family vacations because of band commitments. It is something that the band directors are very upfront about. It is somewhat of a shock to some parents when their first child joins the band as to just how much time they really spend with the band. The kids don't mind in the slightest though because all of their friends are in the band too. We are trying to squeeze in college visits these next two summers so those will be our "vacations" .

 

[marcyinPA]

My DS15 doesn't play football, but he IS in the band, and they start practicing at the beginning of August (the second week, I believe). Band (ours anyway) is a big deal here. My DS would not want to miss it for anything.

That said, when he was a freshman, I wouldn't let him miss any of the practices because he was new and didn't know anything yet.

Now that he is an "upperclassman" and knows how things run, I may feel differently about him missing a few days, but he still would not want to miss. The directors strongly encourage parents to plan vacations accordingly, but they would never kick a kid out of band for missing a couple of days of summer band practice. I'm not so sure that football runs the same way...something tells me that your son might sit on the bench.

I'd try to change your dates.

 

[Colleen27]

Talk to him and see what he wants. My son is a football player, and I know that means no late summer or fall family vacations from 8th grade until he graduates... Am I happy about it? Not at all, but the football program here is very competitive and he really cares about playing so I know we've just got to suck it up and deal with it. From mid-August until Thanksgiving break, he'll have to be home if he wants to get any playing time.

Between that and not being able to pull him out of school for trips once he starts high school it is going to be four very long, Disney-less years because there's no way I'm paying peak summer rates to be miserably hot while standing in hour-long lines with 50,000+ other guests!

 

[ameraumi]

HS sports means missing out on a lot of things. I am surprised even with Jr High sports that was not the case. I know here the Jr High Coaches are as strict as the HS.

DS plays a spring sport and we can never go away on Spring Break as there is always practice or scrimmages.

The only thing you can do is ask him if he intends to play football. If he says yes, then you have to make the choice to cancel the trip or tell him he has to stay home. Sometimes it sucks for the whole family, but there really is nothing more you can do since you cannot move your dates.

 

[MichelleVW]

Here, the boys were not kept from family vacations in their freshment year as parents were unaware of the issues. The older boys families were expected to know. I've heard some programs were not so rational. I think the whole 'you must abandon your entire life for football' thing is insane. Most families don't worship anything like they are required to worship football - for children. I think it's ridiculous, dangerous and sends a really weird message to boys about what is important.

I'm sorry, I disagree. It sends a message that if you sign up for something you stick with it even if that means sacrificing other things.