One of our parents recently announced that her son wouldn’t be able to play in a season-ending championship event that takes place on Memorial Day weekend. It’s a one-day, double-elimination tournament that begins at 9 a.m. with the championship game scheduled for 1 p.m. 

The reason she gave is that her fifth-grade son has two projects due the following week along with finals. 

My first question was: Are those seven hours, counting drive time, really going to make a difference? Especially with the extra day off thanks to the holiday.

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Usually, my opinion as a parent and a coach when it comes to youth sports and school is that studying and homework are always the first priority. However, that’s with the understanding that the onus is on the player, and at younger ages with the parents’ urging, to be sure to avoid the need to choose between the two whenever possible. 

The player’s absence might hurt the team. Is it fair for the team to suffer in the championship tournament because the player can’t get the work done ahead of time, or commit to completing it on Sunday and Monday? 

Also, allowing the player to put off doing the work knowing he’ll miss the big event as a consequence sends the message that it’s OK to let your team down, even when it’s avoidable.

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Finally, if the player is not willing to do the work that it takes ahead of time in order to be “eligible” to play in it, I’d question as a parent if he really enjoys playing the sport. 

As parents, it’s easy to use missing sports as a consequence for just about anything because we know our kids enjoy them so much. I used to think that was OK. Now, I try to look at youth sports more like a job, where my children have to be dedicated to the team and figure out how to manage all their other responsibilities and commitments so they don’t let their teammates down. That includes studying, homework and completing projects on time. 

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When you think about it, that lesson can and will carry over to their jobs as adults. They’ll have to make sure their personal responsibilities don’t interfere with professional ones, which would in turn let their work team down. 

We always say the lessons learned in youth sports can be transferred to real life. This one is no different.

Jon Buzby has been involved in and writing about youth sports for the past 30 years, originally as a coach and board member with his now-adult son and most recently "just as a dad" with his 8- and 10-year-old sons. Jon is an award-winning writer and his latest book, “Coaching Kids Made Easier,” is available on Amazon. Send comments or future blog topics you'd like to see to JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow him @YouthSportsBuzz on Twitter.