Church and travel ball

[okiedad1961]

Now there's a double-edged sword!!!

Not really, The church is a place to worship and learn and have fellowship your faith is in your beliefs and actions.

 

[crystlemc]

What about the player who misses every Sunday practice for church, but is there for every tournament Sunday?

Also, what if another family has a tradition of going fishing every Sunday and feels that is their equivalent to church? Or a different family has some other activity that they feel is just as important?

I am asking for the sake of discussion. Not because this is an issue on the team my dd plays for. It was brought up on another site, and I found it an interesting question. We will be talking about it on tonight's radio show.

 

[okiedad1961]

What about the player who misses every Sunday practice for church, but is there for every tournament Sunday?

Also, what if another family has a tradition of going fishing every Sunday and feels that is their equivalent to church? Or a different family has some other activity that they feel is just as important?

I am asking for the sake of discussion. Not because this is an issue on the team my dd plays for. It was brought up on another site, and I found it an interesting question. We will be talking about it on tonight's radio show.

Fishing better in the morning ,so try to do well in pool play,I agree crystle in the world we live,everybody's got an excuse for commitment,and wants this because they have that. Good topic.

 

[Converse Kid]

Yes, the player should be held accountable for missing games/practices due to attending Church or any other matter. It is not fair to the girls who are putting the work in that is needed to be successful. When certain girls are treated different than the others, it always creates animosity amongst the team. Girls/Parents would want to know why they cannot miss due to beliefs that are important to them. I would suggest finding a local Priest/Pastor to visit the field and say a blessing. The Church preaches that God is everywhere, so I am sure he is in the stands watching the game as well.

 

[brownsfan]

As a Christian, I hated missing church for practice but we dealt with it. We don't have Wednesday or a Sunday night service. I get the tournaments and understsand the reasoning behind it. I know coaches who purposely held practice on Sundays in fall because of college football. There are some coaches who's family days are on Saturdays. Some coaches were Catholic and wanted to attend Saturday mass, so practice was on Sundays.

But no one is going to be happy. But even though I hated missing service, when we didn't have practice-I appreciated going to service alot more.

 

[Irish196]

I think Church is very important and should be a part of our youth ! The lack of belief in Christianity is a big part of what is wrong with our great country (Along with liberals ). ....

Amen! .

 

[CARDS]

I do not think it comes down to a coach or team downplaying a families faith/church but more so, a family not considering the team or their faith when they made the commitment to the team. The coach has to manage to expectations for success, It does not matter if attendance issues are vacations, girl scouts, other sports or church activities (and there are other church related activities outside of mass/service that can impact player attendance).

I know of FCA affiliated teams that would minister / pastor to the team at the hotel Saturday evenings or Sunday morning. In some cases these are the type of teams are best suited for some families. For those that do not know about FCA teams, the coach or parent ministers during practice, games or tournaments. There is faith based classroom activities as part of the practice as well.

I had many players over the years that were able to serve their church and their team without any issues. These ladies attended weekday service, Sunday evening service etc. A few may have had to do community service work but that is why I kept a roster of 12+ and in the rare situation a player missed a start it was no issue with the parent because they understood the expectations regardless of why.

Most of these issues pop up at the younger ages with coaching and parents that are new to travel sports in general. There are parents that think travel sports are an extension of their local rec. or community church program where games start an hour after Sunday morning service ends and play ends an hour before evening service begins.

It takes a little time to figure out all the changes when playing competitive sport but; once they figure it out generally there is no issues.

If parents are struggling with a travel teams expectations wait until the ladies get into high school or college...

I know of HS coaches that have sat players for missing practice or a game for school related activities including; ACT testing or after school OGT help!
College games get played anytime so the ladies have to adjust to the "team schedule" for work, school work, church, practices etc.

It does not mean the players/coaches that makes the team commitment have any less faith just, that some players/families are better prepared.

 

[FPDAD03]

In my opinion this is not even a debate! Church, Family, and school come before ball at any level.QUOTE]

Amen!!!!

 

[initfor51]

This just came up on Facebook as well. I beleive that you must follow your heart either way. I go to church on Saturday nights during tourneys. As a coach, I also wouldn't have practice during church hours on Sunday anyway. To me that is just asking for trouble. I have my practice on Sunday evenings after having a vote before the season started.

Church, Fishing, Shopping, etc. can all be a huge part of one's life. If I make exceptions to church then I would have to make exceptions for all functions that is important to that particular family. You miss a mandatory practice (my winters aren't mandatory-but typically everyone shows up), game, and meeting-you will sit down for a game unless it is agreed upon early or an extreme emergency. After all my years of coaching, I have only had to do this one time.

 

[wow]

What happenes when your out of town? Are kids allowed to miss Sunday's for services? I can see a divide here just between those who find time for faith based services, and those who play Sunday's for the team they commited to. This is a emotional topic and I get it.. If these girls want to play at the next level they have to make sacrifices to play all weekend.. You can balance church, temple, masque, or whatever it's is you do, just do it during the weekdays..
Instead of finding justifications for not playing on the weekends, find a way to worship during the weekday..

 

[Chad Strahler]

One other thing to note about this topic...I am a firm believer that just because you don't go to church or church routinely doesn't mean you don't believe...

 

[Bat Dad]

This is the most interesting pseudo-twist on the "Render to Ceaser what is Cearser's..." Biblical quote I think I've ever seen. I love seeing the diversity in opinion here, not only in terms of softball but also in spirituality. Not any of us fit into a tidy box. I'm a "Not-often-enough-churchgoing-Catholic-but always spiritual-Politically left leaning-U.S. Army Veteran-Handgun Owning-Softball Dad - who-makes-a-mean-chili"
For every one time I "see" God in church I see Him 100X more in the world. I see Him in the person in the checkout line in a bit front of me who just paid it forward to the person in back of her. I see Him in the homeless veteran who has served us all, now struggling and asking for our tiny bit of help at the off-ramp. I see God in a millions tiny acts of kindness demonstrated by people who may not even believe in God but are BEING God to others by trying to make their world a better place. But mostly I see the grace of God whenever I see my child, vibrant and HEALTHY running with joy at the park, on the beach....or on the field.

Bat Dad

 

[dannyboy]

Why does practice have to be Sunday morning? We have had this issue for several years. I refuse to discuss this topic with my wife. I knew when I married her that her faith is important to her. End of discussion. If you want my daughter to attend your practice, then don't schedule it every Sunday morning.

What about the player who misses every Sunday practice for church, but is there for every tournament Sunday?

Also, what if another family has a tradition of going fishing every Sunday and feels that is their equivalent to church? Or a different family has some other activity that they feel is just as important?

I am asking for the sake of discussion. Not because this is an issue on the team my dd plays for. It was brought up on another site, and I found it an interesting question. We will be talking about it on tonight's radio show.

 

[softballgirl19]

I love the passion that everyone has shown on this topic. I believe that in most cases church should always be a high priority our children need solid foundations for them to grow on. But I will say this if you are sincere about church and you feel that should come first along with family. Than my advice to you as you move forward on the recruiting trail make sure you are only pursueing christian base colleges otherwise church will be neither here nor their, There will be sunday morning practices sunday games and travel days. And that is just the way it is. Believe me I have been there.

 

[flygirlsdad]

Politically left leaning-U.S. Army Veteran-Handgun Owning

Now there's an oxymoron.

I would wager that if the girl was a stud, most of those posting would find a way to make it work for all involved.

 

[Louuuuu]

says the guy that scheduled a tourney on Easter weekend!

I'm guessing, with only 4 teams, and three games, you'd be done Saturday evening.

 

[Chad Strahler]

Why does practice have to be Sunday morning? We have had this issue for several years. I refuse to discuss this topic with my wife. I knew when I married her that her faith is important to her. End of discussion. If you want my daughter to attend your practice, then don't schedule it every Sunday morning.

I want to be clear about this post. I was giving my opinion in those situations. We never have practice until afternoon on Sunday's because of church but when it comes to tourneys we cannot help it and we do expect them there or the answer to another post stud or not she won't play. We've actually benched stud players for others reasons but point is we will bench them like anyone else.

 

[dannyboy]

Why did you use my quote? I was responding to a different post. That is why I included the quote that I was responding to. Sorry if I pushed a button, but I didn't even read your previous post.

I want to be clear about this post. I was giving my opinion in those situations. We never have practice until afternoon on Sunday's because of church but when it comes to tourneys we cannot help it and we do expect them there or the answer to another post stud or not she won't play. We've actually benched stud players for others reasons but point is we will bench them like anyone else.

 

[Chad Strahler]

Why did you use my quote? I was responding to a different post. That is why I included the quote that I was responding to. Sorry if I pushed a button, but I didn't even read your previous post.

No buttons pushed here at all. Your post just made me think about it a bit more and realized we do as I stated so we do accomadate best we can for it.

 

[Westler33]

Sounds like we all better get us some church this Sunday. lol