Disney vacation/high school football-WWYD??

[jennyf2]

Hello! I also posted this on the rest. board with my ADR's but I figured the family board may have some responses too

After going back & forth on our dates we decided to go the end of August for 4d/3n. My oldest son starts HS this year & in the past I didnt think twice to pull him out of school for vacation but his football begins the 1st week of August - So we decided on a short trip-- Aug 29-Sept 1 (he is missing 1 practice--which I'm still not convinced is a good idea). We are only doing 1 park (Epcot), all the times we have been to Disney we have never made it so now is our chance. I also decided to go with the DELUXE dining ! I debated on this, but at the end I figured why not...

My question is for those who have teenagers in HS sports, I had our vacation planned (airline tickets bought) before attending our 1st football meeting (my bad), I knew the HS rules are MUCH more strict than middle school--however having him miss 1 practice would result in a 1/2 game suspension (which I understand). I made our reservations over Labor Day wkd "thinking" he wouldnt have practice the Friday before (again my bad). Would u continue with the vacation & talk to the coach? I/he doesnt want to start off on the wrong foot. What would u do??

 

[Fairytale Princess]

I played two sports back in high school--both teams were quite good, frequently competing at the state level, so the coaches took the sports seriously--miss practice you better have a good excuse type coaches. Both coaches however, were understanding of absences as long as they were informed from the beginning/as soon as you knew---performance, FAMILY trip that was ALREADY scheduled (ie the girls that tried the weekend beach getaway with the friends were told no), doctor's appt. were always fine. As the one coach of mine said, high school is a time of discovery and finding out who you are, what you want to do with your life and where you belong in the world, so one activity shouldn't dominate an entire season, you'll miss out on too many opportunities. High school sports should only be one means of finding out who you are. As a freshman who did not know the high school schedule, I'm sure that any understanding/reasonable coach would let him go no questions asked--as an upperclassman knowing the practice schedule, I doubt the coach would be quite as lenient. The teams I played on also had the same suspension rules as penalty for missed practice, unless a doctor's note was produced. If you want to earn a few brownie points, maybe have your son offer to spend some extra time at the gym/running before or after your trip to show his dedication to the team (I know my coaches always were pleased by this in addition to our regular individual practice)

But, I do believe your son would be fine missing the practice. Coaches have families as well and know how difficult scheduling can be (esp. with all the matches and practices). High school athletics, while one does seemingly form a unique bond with his teammates, is for FUN and recreation....family time is something much more important--friends come and go, family is forever. Tell the coach (nicely remind him that the trip was booked and you were "unaware" of the high school practice schedule, then go and have an amazing trip!


PS. sorry for the book, college graduation is quickly approaching and i'm getting quite reminscient about the "good old days" of high school...lol

 

[jcf41]

IMO, I think your son is old enough to make the final decision here as he is the one who will ultimately be affected with the outcome.

 

[bennynick18]

I wouldn't recommend missing practice. The coaches are definitely going to let your son miss practice, and they'll say it will only amount in a 1/2 game suspension. However, being a freshman, I'm sure he wants to play as much as possible. You didn't mention if he was a starter or a reserve, but I know most coaches will take a mental note that he chose a weekend getaway over football. In most coaches minds, that shows he is not dedicated to football or his teammates. Like the previous post, I think you should let your son decide for himself. As a freshman, he is old enough to stay behind for the long weekend and go to practice. Let him decide.

 

[Aliceacc]

Forgive me for asking the obvious: does he know for sure whether or not he has made the team?

 

[daisyduck123]

I have a DD13 (freshman) & we would have her miss the practice. To us (and DD), having to miss 1/2 of a game is no big deal compared to a WDW trip.
She would remember that trip a lot longer than she would remember 1 game.

 

[msmayor]

We went through this situation three years ago with my daughter who, at the time, was entering her freshman year and had decided to play field hockey.

We had already booked and paid for our late-August trip when I found out that mandatory pre-season practices would begin the week BEFORE we were leaving, and would run every day (except weekends) right through the end of the season in November.

I spoke with the coach in June, explaining the situation and the fact that this was a long-planned and already-paid-for vacation. Due to my husband needing to request his vacation time early, we couldn't adjust it.

The coach was very understanding and explained that our daughter would need to fulfill the required minimum 12 practices before being able to play in a game, and then just asked us to consider the field hockey season in the future when planning our trips.

Only after speaking with the coach can you gauge how this will affect his participation. Its really hard to tell how missing this one practice might hurt his 'position' with the team. If you keep your plans with the coach's blessing, he should work doubly-hard both before and after to show the coach that despite his absence he really wants to be a part of the team.