School vs. Football

Fair to the team? Well, it depends on how you look at it...you said he was a good player, so I'm assuming the team needed him. So for that reason, it wasn't fair to the team. A positive side is that maybe it made some of them realize how important school is. Also, I don't know about all schools, but at my son's high school passing grades is a requirement of staying on the team. If they have a failing grade average in just 1 class, they are disqualified from any activity they are in, until the grade is brought up. So, if that is the rule at the high school there, now would be a good time to tell these kids on the team to expect it in high school.

I do think that taking the kid off the team was a bit extreme. Mom could have taken him out for 1 game and warned him that if the grade did not improve immediately, THEN his season would end.

I personally like the rule at my son's high school. I also like the way the manager of my son's travel baseball team handles it. They practice through the winter, and the coach always asks the parents how the grades are. If he finds out one of the kids grades are suffering, he personally excuses them from practice for a week or so.

I would not have went to the extreme that that mom went to. I also will not take my kids sports from them as a punishment. I don't look at youth sports as a "treat" that they get for being good. I believe that sports is positive and constructive and if your kids are interested in being involved in them, they should have their parent's full support. There is a lot of life lessons being learned by being on a team. My kids are taught that good grades and sports go hand in hand...especially if they want to play college ball!