Sports team ?

[BakersDozen]

Would this seem fair to you? 13U, 3 teams, each with 7 players. One team knows from the 2nd week that one of their players will not be present on tournament day (got pulled for a hunting tag). Rather than have a short bench at the tournament, it is suggested to bring a player up from 11U who is totally capable of playing w/13U players. Teach coach decides (w/o talking to any parents or at least not all the parents) that having 8 players would take away time during the season for the original 7 players, so team remains at 7 players. Announcement goes out a week before tournament that the solution is to pull a player from the other 2 teams as a substitute for the player who will not be there. So if teams A and B are playing, a sub from team C will be pulled to play.

Does all of that make sense? Basically, the coach chose a short bench and pulling players from teams who are trying to beat this one team rather than having another player join the team for the duration of the season.

Also, no substitutions have ever been allowed during tournament and the message to families clearly stated that this is the one and only exception. So if the other 2 teams lose a player to illness or injury this coming week, too bad - no subs allowed. Doesn't matter than no one plans or chooses illness/injury but this other player chose to go hunting...

Yet another reason given for bringing in subs for the one team is that there is a player w/asthma and expecting that player to be out on the rink even more is not fair. But no mention of the player on another team who also has asthma - a team which would not get a sub if there is illness/injury.

And if it makes any difference, rink is outdoor and temps are expected to be high 60s/low 70s.

As a parent of players on the two teams where the subs would be pulled, what would you think/say/do?

One last thing...the team which will be short benched has lost every game save for one (when they had a good sub come in) and they play dirty - and I mean ugly, nasty, bully dirty both on the rink and off. One of my dc is on that team and she hates it. So unfortunately the team's reputation is a factor - it's not a team anyone wants to be associated with or play for. And the more they lose to the other 2 teams, the worse the players/parents become.

Thoughts? If your kid's name was pulled (they are making a list of players of similar ability and will draw names from a hat for subbing) and your dc didn't want to, would you support him/her in that? Would you make it known ahead of time that no way was your dc's name to be on the list for subs?

We're still new to this world of hockey but something about this just isn't sitting right...

 

[Katy]

I’m not a hockey mom, but generally… If your gut says to keep your kid off that team, keep your kid off that team. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted trusting my gut.  I’ve often regretted not trusting it.

[Junie]

My ds played baseball, but they had a similar system for subs.  The fact that this is a One Time Only thing bothers me, though.  It doesn't feel fair that hunting is a good reason to miss, but asthma isn't.  

I would let my kids decide if they wanted to be put on the sub list and go with that.

[Drama Llama]

. . . 

Edited October 26, 2021 by BaseballandHockey

[BakersDozen]

1 hour ago, BaseballandHockey said:

Is this travel or rec/house?

I am kind of confused by pulling a kid from a 7 man team to a 7 man team.

Are there other teams in the tournament?  Or is it just these 3 teams?  

Rec, but some intense travel players are involved mainly on the team with the short bench.

There are 3 teams in 13U and 3 on 11U (many of the 11U/13U players have played on teams together over the last few years).

The one team would have a 6-player bench so the team not playing at the time would have one of their players subbing. So instead of the players getting a rest before the next game, some would be playing back to back.

[Drama Llama]

. . . 

Edited October 26, 2021 by BaseballandHockey

[BakersDozen]

3 hours ago, BaseballandHockey said:

My guess is there will be kids like mine who would love the extra game, and will be glad there is an extra chance for him. 

This is typically the case but this is also the tournament so the dilemma is that the players from the other 2 teams don't exactly want to help this third team to win. So now do these kids, if they are pulled to sub, play their best? If they take a shot and miss, would that be interpreted as they did it on purpose?

One of my dc is on the short benched team but is not bothered by that, but she is bothered at the prospect of the other 2 teams having players sub in, at least for this tournament.

I wish I could say that this Rec league is about playing and not winning, but not for this short-benched team. They are (with the exception of my dd and her friend) intensely competitive and will go for a win at any cost. If there are 5 penalties in a game, 4 are on their players. Off the rink they intimidate and bully players on the other teams. So it's not like the other teams are really wanting to support this team, but they may be forced to and that, imo, is what is not fair.

I guess with the asthma thing if that is one reason thrown out for putting in a sub for one team then a sub should be provided for the other team should something happen to one of their players. To tell the entire 13U group that the rule against subbing during a tournament is going to be ignored for the player who made a choice of activity but no one else and no other team gets the same privilege, even if it's something they cannot help/prevent, is grossly wrong.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out. From the rumblings I'm hearing, if players from the other 2 teams are told to sub, they won't play at all. The short-benched team's reputation is just that bad - these kids would rather give up the tournament than play for the bully team. What a mess. 😞

[freesia]

On my dds rec soccer team it’s pretty common to pull a player from the opposing team to play if a team is short. They tend to rotate who it is— ie it’s not the same player the whole game. 
I think I would clarify why this one situation gets special treatment. That is odd. 

[Carrie12345]

Sports culture varies so much from place to place, I would have zero advice for another sport somewhere else.

When my kids were doing sports, and even when dh played rec hockey, it was a pretty collaborative community. Kids would fill in on the opposing team. Parents or siblings would fill in for a no-show ump. Whatever it took for the kids to be able to play.

I once had 4 of my family members on the field for one child’s game; a player, a fill in player, a fill in 3rd base coach, and a fill in ump, lol.

That said, we did not like the stand alone culture of certain teams, and that is why my dds stopped one and two years early. But that would have been a whole season, not a solo event.

[Ausmumof3]

My kids have played on a team for a different sport where they frequently had to borrow players from the opposing team and occasionally lend players.  Some kids would put in zero effort or actively obstruct the team they were filling in for.  I drilled my kids to be good sports and put in their best effort regardless.  I do hate when we play for a team without any spare players because it makes it really hard to have a day off if you need one for whatever reason.