Sherice Ajifu says there was no choice. The Mid-Pacific girls basketball coach, who led the Owls to the Division II state championship last season, resigned on Sunday after several days of crisis within the program. It came down, she said, to “core values.”
“I don’t want to put anybody on a hot seat, but I’ll say this: we decided to resign due to a lack of administrative support,” Ajifu said Thursday night. “It has nothing to do with a kid. It’s about (lack of) administrative support.”
According to sources, the problem began with disciplinary action of reduced playing time for one of the players who didn’t show up for practice. That led to normal disciplinary action — reduced playing time. However, the player then quit the team, then changed her mind and asked to return.
Ajifu required the player to apologize to the team, and that’s when the player balked. When school administration got involved, Ajifu and her staff didn’t get the support they expected.
“Some things transpired over the weekend, a shift in the administration’s stance, and we just didn’t agree with it. We weren’t allowed to build our program according to our core values,” Ajifu said. “As coaches, we’re educators, so we need to teach the kids that we have to take a stand. Perhaps there’s a lesson in there for the girls.”
However, the player’s father says that it was miscommunication. In a phone call late Thursday night, he rolled out the day-by-day details from his perspective. After an MPI game last Friday night (Dec. 8), he said that his daughter tried to text Ajifu about a family emergency. (Note: because he had an unavoidable obligation that weekend, the only one available to help his wife with a serious problem at their rental property was their daughter.)
“My wife needed help, so (my daughter) had to go. She texted her coach at 9:30 p.m. Friday that she couldn’t practice on Saturday,” he said.
There was no response, the father said, until an assistant coach “reached out (on Saturday) and asked if everything is OK.”
By Monday, Mid-Pacific played Maryknoll and the player was benched in the first half.
“She said Coach Sherice told her that she didn’t get the text,” he said.
The player sat most of the third quarter before entering the game. After the game, her father pulled her before the usual post-game team meeting. He regrets that.
“I felt I needed to console my daughter. I wasn’t trying to prove anything. That was a dad move. I apologized later (at a meeting with coaches and administrators) for that,” he said.
By Tuesday, that decision by the player’s father proved to be a breaking point.
“(My daughter’s) phone is blowing up. Coach Sherice is telling the team that (my daughter) quit the team. Coach Sherice told the AD that by (my daughter) walking out of the (post-game meeting), that was quitting,” he said.
The player’s father added that he and his daughter had never had an issue with the coach before. He adds that he never complained to administrators.
Was this all about the definition of a family emergency? Technological glitches? A dead phone battery, perhaps? Simple human error? All of the above?
Calls to MPI athletic director Scott Wagner were not returned earlier in the week. Wagner issued a statement to the newspaper on Wednesday saying Ajifu had resigned. “We are grateful for her years of service to the school, and her efforts in bringing the team to its state championship win last season,” Wagner said. “The team is currently moving forward in anticipation of another great season of girls basketball at Mid-Pacific.”
Lisa Russell, a faculty member at Mid-Pacific, is currently serving as interim head coach.
Ajifu is a former MPI basketball player. At the players’ request, Ajifu and her staff attended the Owls’ game on Thursday night against ‘Iolani, a 77-50 loss. It was emotional. She shed some tears through the night, and all in all, it seemed Ajifu and her staff are at a distance, but haven’t completely let go yet.
“We’re not as a staff innocent in this. We played a role in the process. I’ll take accountability for the choices we made,” she said.
After resigning, Ajifu said she talked with the school president.
“I’m not sure who the final (administrative) decision rested with. There was an effort to task us to reconsider our stance,” she said. “But there were things that both parties were unwilling to compromise on, so we had to move on. Fundamentally, there are things that went against what I believe and what we believe as a program.”
Last year, in Ajifu’s first season at the helm, she led the Owls to the Division II title. The team moved back to D-I in the ILH this season and was ranked at 10th in the Star-Advertiser Girls Basketball Top 10.
Ajifu called it a hectic week. She said her now former players asked her and the staff to be at their game on Thursday night, a loss to ‘Iolani. Her voice was raspy after a night of mixed emotions and many tears. It’s far too early to speculate about the future.
“Right now, you know coaching takes up so much time and energy. It’s a huge commitment. The way things are in this world today, I think I’m hanging up my hat,” said Ajifu, 31. “I don’t see coaching in my future.”
It might be easier to stay away, but she doesn’t know if that will happen.
“As long as the girls want us at the games,” Ajifu said, “we’ll be there.”
This story has been updated to reflect the player’s father’s perspective. His name is not identified by request.
Lavar Ball syndrome is alive and well here in Hawaii. Rules and laws are in place for a reason and breaking them has consequences. Sitting out a qtr or even a game is a minor consequence but instills life lessons. Unfortunately coaches are the ones scrutinized and receive the short end of the stick…get used to this, it will be the norm moving forward thanks to parents who believe their kids can do no wrong.
Wow. The lack of humanity and care for this young girl is really sad. It sounds like she was a pawn in this game between coaches and parents. What happened to taking care of our children first? I think the coach missed an opportunity to be a role model and instead fell on her sword over pride. Too bad.
“I felt I needed to console my daughter. I wasn’t trying to prove anything. That was a dad move. I apologized later (at a meeting with coaches and administrators) for that”
Console her for what? Because she didn’t play? So every time my child doesn’t play, I should go complain? Because obviously parents have control over administrators. This guy is a joke.
Lies are rampant. Father did complain to administration. AD is just as smart as the POTUS. Father has now made his daughter an outcast. Did anyone go to their game at Iolani. The rest of the team wants no part of this girl. Stay in your lane.
What a shame the coach behaved this way. She should be a role model and set good examples for the kids. The coach must of done something wrong for the administration to not support her in this situation. I’m sure there’s more to the story that’s not being revealed. Thank God she’s not a coach at our school.
If that father wants to meddle with the coaches and his daughter he should send her to Lithuania like me. BBBC all day.
@ballerup that’s probably your daughter.
Because by the looks of last night from being an outsider, everyone was pretty supportive of the coach.
That parent should follow my lead. Take her out of school and home school her and start preparing her for the WNBA. In the mean time send her to Lithuania to make some money and train to be a PRO. BBBC! Only Big Ballers wanted.
That’s why kids these days feel entitled, it’s because of how they’re raised. Everything is earned in life.
Wow!!!!!
Why you gotta point out who it is?
This girl is a minor and you calling her out…
All you people who post a comment on this are donkey’s. There’s always 2 sides of the story and none of you know the truth……….
I heard the AD Wagner orchestrated this entire thing hoping for this exact result. Ajifu asks for a lot and pushes a lot and he was tired of it.
He probably could have went about this a different way.
He did this while one of the assistant ADs was on a business trip cuz he new the assistant AD supported Ajifu.
to the above comment, the coach behaved which way?
sitting a kid for not showing up to practice?
You are the type of parent that would pull your kid after the game to console them.
go have breakfast with Scott Wagner
All the players, parents, and most of Mid-Pacifics faculty admire Coach Sherice for what she did. She did not quit on the team, she stood up for what is right. As a parent and alumni of this school, I am extremely disappointed in what went down. The school chose to take care of one child and devastate the lives of the other 10 players. The players should have had a voice, or at least the captains. Seeing the girls crying before, during, and after the game is just heart breaking. They should have never been put through this all to satisfy the needs of a player that quit to begin with.
Home school your kid and train her for the WNBA. I paved the path now drive on the road I created. No one smarter than me.
All the players, parents, and most of Mid-Pacifics faculty admire Coach Sherice for what she did. She did not quit on the team, she stood up for what is right. As a parent and alumni of this school, I am extremely disappointed in what went down. The school chose to take care of one child and devastate the lives of the other 10 players. The players should have had a voice, or at least the captains. Seeing the girls crying before, during, and after the game is just heart breaking. They should have never been put through this all to satisfy the needs of a player that quit to begin with.
The coach is not an educator. If she was, she’d know that, like doctors, our first tenant is “do no harm”. By holding a grudge against this player’s parents, and defying her administration, she has caused hurt and bad feelings amongst the basketball community. Just look at the comments in this forum. Many of you are dragging a high school girl through the mud publicly. Have you no shame? It’s time for this basketball program to try and salvage what they can of the season. Let’s let them move on.
La’avar > Lavar, Poly Lavar more smarter than the OG Lavar.
Parents need to let coaches be mentors. I don’t care what the reason is, if kid misses a practice, for my own funeral, i would want a coach showing the team that practice makes perfect, and if you miss practice, certainly, no parent should ever get involved and have an opinion on the playing time. This lesson is for life not some stupid basketball game. Coach is building rules of life and leave the coach to building the right rules because certainly parents emotions and selfish feelings should stay home. Parents are the root of all disgruntled players. If the parents never said a word, the coach and kids would all be together today. The kids on entire team are hurt because one parent couldn’t just be a parent. Chalk the resignation up to parents getting involved again. I have USC college athlete, and he would absolutely have killed me had I done what this father done, and certainly, the USC coach that recruited him would have said no to a scholarship if I had don’t this to my son in front of a college coach recruiting. Adversity and how kids respond on a positive basis is what college coaches look for. How does your kid and you respond to negative issue? Positive=scholarship. If Negative…no want……
There were obviously mistakes made by ALL parties involved: coach, player, parent, admin. Everyone did things they were not supposed to do. PERIOD. If the focus was really, truly in the best interest of the team, the school would not be in this situation right now. In my opinion, the person who is to be blamed the most is the player’s dad (who I am sure is reading this post). So to the dad, as parents we all want to come to the rescue of our children. That is what we do. But in this particular situation you needed to take a step back and let your daughter handle the situation. If she “fails”, so what. Lesson learned. We’ve all been there. But look at what has now been created. What she needs to deal with now, is far tougher than what she had to do deal with earlier. I hope this player is a strong young woman who will get past this having learned her lessons. She has witnessed her “rogue” father crossing the line (again). She has witnessed admin
trying to do what they felt was in the best interest of her as a student, but in hindsight probably should’ve just let her learn a tough lesson: you quit, you’re out. She has witnessed her coach put her “core values” (ie: ego/stubbornness/immaturity) ahead of what was in the best interest of the team. What she did was a very “young” move. You will notice that the coaches who remained with the program and didn’t quit on the teams, are all older veteran coaches. Grateful for those coaches who cared more about the TEAMS (vs. themselves). What all the people (coach, parent, admin) involved in creating this mess need to realize is if they kept the TEAM as the highest priority none of this would’ve happened. Good luck to the teams (and coaches who stuck by these young ladies)! Show the rest of these loloheads what it means to hold your head up high and push forward!
@PublicSchool. The coach who stayed at inter was the former coach and probably wants that job again.
Dr. Au an assistant is not young and a highly respected doctor and person. I don’t think it was a young move. If anythjng it was a bold move.
As for older people, they rarely change and want to take the path of least resistance. That’s what old people do. They like the norm. They like things to stay the same. They like consistent routines.
Most of your post is pretty spot on. But I do not agree with the young move.
And it seems 99% of the families and kids agree. That alone tells you they support the coach. Their actions speak very loud about who they feel is right.
These are all opinions on here. Grateful to the adults who stepped down and cared more about the kids’ future than some basketball games.
Accountability, following rules, having the integrity to apologize, reflection, standing up for what’s right, having Core Values, are way more important in the long run than basketball.
Anyone who can see the bigger picture can easily see what the coaches are doing far outweighs 1 half season of basketball.
It’s unfortunate that 10 teenagers who support the coach seem more mature and can see the bigger picture than a few adults who chose to stay on and position themselves to be the next coach and a few naive writers on this blog.
I applaud all the coaches for doing what’s right.
I hope DG will change. But all the parents at Kalakaua, Mid Pacific, and Punahou know he will not. He is who he is.
@ballersball.. lol, nope not my kid. My kid doesn’t even go to Mid Pac. But being in league ball, word travels fast. Nobody knows what happened before the practice she missed. You guys realize that she was MVP last year and helped the team to win ILH championship last year and is the highest scoring member of the team right? That makes no sense for this to be as blown up as it is based on one missed practice. It has to be political, there has to be way more to the story than we will ever know. Just thinking about it doesn’t make sense. The whole truth will come out.
If you were at the game against Iolani, you would have seen the girls proudly honor their coaches. All the girls, except for one, had “for the coaches” written on their arms. When the starters were announced, they ran to their coaches on the bleaches and lei’d each one of them. If that does not show the love and support they all have for their coaches, I don’t know what will. Although the lost, they played their heart out for them. Emotions were high during the game, but the girls gave it their all. They were on their own for this game and had to lead their own team with everything going on. In my eyes, they are the true winners.
@ballerup Her stats may be high for points, but have you seen any for assists? I was at the game against Maryknoll and she does not pass the ball. A teammate was wide open for a fast break and she decided to dribble through 3 defenders instead. She may have been the MVP for the state game, but throughout all of the tournament and season, we all know who should’ve been MVP.
@Ballerup totally agree. There is more to this story (there always is). People would be naive to think that what is written here (and the comments that are being made) is all there is to this situation. The aloha the girls showed their coaches last night is a reflection on how awesome those girls are. The girls are a class act. No doubt. You see, that’s how they roll. But is there drama (beyond this specific situation) in that program? Yes (like with pretty much every other program in the state!). So are the girls in total support of their coaches? Nope. They just know that they gotta move on, no hard feelings, continue to work hard, and do the best they can with the sucky cards they have been dealt (not only do they need to step up their game from D2 to D1, they gotta deal with coaches who dug out with the season already underway). Funny huh? The adults can learn a heck of a lot by the actions of these young ladies.
These girls honored coaches that resigned? I’m confused. The coaches didn’t like an administrative decision, so took a stand and decided to quit. (Yes, resigning is quitting.) If I resigned every time my bosses made a decision I didn’t agree with, I’d never be employed. Sometimes we have to swallow our pride for the good of the order. I can’t see how leaving your team behind to make a statement helps anyone, let alone deserves to be honored.
I have to disagree. I have talked to numerous kids on the team and their parents. Other than one kid, the rest of the kids and their parents support the coaches are in total support. It has gone on the record in meetings. Unless something else has changed over the last 8 hours, the info being provided is inaccurate.
#getridofwagner
You guys need to read the article again. Coach says she stepping down not for the reason of one player. According to this article it DOESN’T sound that way. There’s two sides to the story and not all is reported. All you guys ripping on a players dad cause he coached at Kalakaua. Who’s posting this…. club called “STORM”.
Like I said before all you guys don’t know the truth , you just reacting to what you read. Know your facts.
This coach has something against her cause she goes to Derek low for training and the rest goes to Storm
Word on the street is after resigning there were a lot of pleas from the players and parents for the coaching staff to return.
MPI president and wagner also asked Ajifu if she would reconsider and return to coach.
Ajifu was considering returning.
There was supposed to be a meeting with the player and family and coach to squash everything and move on but the FAMILY was not willing so Ajifu and her staff were not allowed back.
this is AFTER Ajifu was asked by AD Wagner and MPI president to return.
Who runs this school? it’s a mess
Please stop making this situation about what club a player plays for because that’s not the case and these claims are actually quite irrelevant. No one had a change of opinion on the player due to her playing for a certain club and certainly not because only TWO of the players on Midpacific play for storm. People wouldn’t just drag a parent or even a player due to the club their child plays for now. Stop being ignorant and see the bigger picture that the people commenting have their reasons behind what they say; they aren’t just commmenting things due to a “grudge” against a specific club team.
Some girls go Kalakaua. Some go Storm. Some go ProFormance. Some go to Hoops 4 Christ.
Knowing what I know of Coach Sherice, she could care less where her kids train or which club they pay for. She treats them based solely on their actions at Mid Pacific.
If anything “Just Saying” it looks like Wagner is supporting the kid who goes to Proformance since he has a deal in place with them to train their kids.
Maybe Storm, 808, Kalakaua, H4C, Eastsidaz should train their kids and they would get support and benefits too
Coach Ajifu may be young but I feel she has old school values. What happened was very unfortunate but it was a lesson that needed to be taught. Rules have to be followed and rules have to be enforced. Back in the day coaches were respected. Parents never got involved they let the coaches coach. Today sadly it’s different.
@ Donkey & @ Just saying. You must either be Wagner pretending to be someone or a Proformance Coach trying beg.
Coach Sherice is one of the best people I know. Like I said earlier, she doesn’t care who her players train with or play for. If what you are saying is true then she likes the girls from 3-5 other clubs but not one who just trains kids and has a coach who just got suspended? Where’s the logic?
Nobody cares that she’s played for Kalakaua or Proformance. She could go to Storm and she’s still wrong. Who cares. Her and her dad who’s known as a meddler caused this.
She will have a terrible season cuz now she’s an outcast. Dad should have made her wear a Scarlet Lettwr. Pretty much the same.
If your comment is true, the family made the right choice. If was me and my family in this situation I would fight for what is right. The School wouldn’t back up something that is not right. That alone tells me the Coach knew she did wrong. Bottom line coach did her wrong and could have resolved the issue before it got out of hand. I’m all about the kid.
We’ve been coaching for 5 years coed ball; all 3 of my kids played JV and Varsity level for private schools; and as a rule of thumb coaches makes all the final decisions. at my kids school if you don’t attend practice regardless Emergency, family obligation, sickness or travel trips at the next game that child will have to sit for the 1st half of the game. Only fair to those who comes to practice on a daily. I have seen players who scored the most points or my child who runs the point have to sit and they are okay with it because its the COACHES rule. My kids were starters but when they played teams who had less talent they would sit and let the 2nd team play or when they are losing by large margins our coaches would make them sit. I was okay with it because the coach was doing his job. He is known all across the state for his SHADDY tactics coaching one of the best teams on the island McCully Alii’s in there prime. he would sit outside the gym and see who his opponents was then on the phone making phone calls then passing out jersey’s to all these superior athletes leaving his not so talented kids sitting on the bench because WINNING was more important then teaching and developing kids the game. Right there showed us coaches he had no core values, ethics or respect. They would blow out teams 90 to 25 and still leave in his elite players. MidPac has growing pains going from D2 back to D1 and I seen Coach Sherice coach her team and she has old school values. But he is not used to being on a losing team and cannot support the growing pains and just wants his daughter to shine. Unfortunately with Coach Sherice she has values and integrity and has rules you don’t come to practice you sit. Then the tantrums thrown by immediately removing his daughter after the game. Every team has a post game meeting and if a child has to go because of an emergency me as a parent would go to the coach and say I’m really sorry but I need to take my child. I hope the rest of the girls can over come this obstacle and as for his daughter all she needed to do was apologize. WE make our players do that. Sad what sports is coming too… first Kaiser football coach, then roosevelt’s basketball coach both was assaulted by parents and now Coach Sherice had no choice but to step down because the rest of the season she would have to battle this same parent and player because now they will expect special treatment… Sad for MidPac
@kidfirst – maybe that kind of thinking is the problem. You assume the school backs up what’s right and wrong. The truth is the school is going to back up money and what the kids last name is. Anybody who’s actually been involved in athletics will set you straight.
First, lets see …..Dad can apologize to coaches – he says he made a mistake, only acted as a father. Daughter can’t apologize to her fellow teamates – for what reason ???
All the rest said here is just gossip to me….cause so called “facts” from pro and con really does not count. An apology is all that matters.
Second, sending a text message does not necessarily mean you are ok with not going to practice. Especially if you did not get a reply.
Third, all mom’s fault. If they had rental property ou should have just paid sumone
(relative, friend, etc,) is sure the IRS would allow that deduction.
She should have supported her daughter and told her to attend practice.
Like Mr. Archie would say, “case closed meathead.”
I don’t understand how this father believes he’s right. He is totally responsible for what happened to his daughter. If the “emergency” was so bad why didn’t he help his wife instead of his child. I would think he would have been a better choice, as a responsible adult, to handle and adult emergency.
Next issue is miscommunication. Why couldn’t the daughter have “called” the coach, especially after not receiving an acknowledgement to her text message. A responsible parent would have taught their child to make sure the coach knows. Technology has its hiccups every once in awhile. I believe there are other ways to communicate with your coach besides texting. This does not pass the commonsense test.
If the coaching staff has established a team rules and routines to have a mandatory post game meeting, and the father acknowledges this, then he should accept full responsibility for his actions. He took his child away from the post game meeting and thus put his child smack dab in the middle of this mess. If the father went along with her discipline, based on team rules, she would have been done with it and everyone can move forward. It goes to show that this father has no appreciation or respect for team rules. Miscommunication? This selfish act was communicated loud and clear…and it translate to “I Quit!”
This was a team rule that was broken by a player missing practice, that resulted in a punishment of reduced minutes for one game. Compounded by the player missing a post game meeting for a non-emergency reason, that told the team through that players action that I quit. As a parent I would never go to the AD or administration to complain about this. In fact this would be embarrassing to my family and my child if I did this. What life lessons would I teach my child to prepare her for the real world.
If this was my daughter, I would hold her responsible for making sure the coach new about missing practice. Sending a “text” would not be acceptable in my eyes. Calling the coach on the phone is the only way to go.
If the punishment for missing practice is reduced playing time, then its a lesson an accountability for my daughter. I would have never pulled my daughter from the post game meeting for the same reason. I would have supported the team rules and told her to accept the consequences of her actions. That’s called real life lessons.
The father is not doing his daughter any good by acting this way. In fact he has probably made her life worse as her teammates are certainly holding her accountable for their head coach resigning. The fact that the team wants the old coaching staff to attend their games says a lot. I feel bad for the seniors who had bought into the structured system, won a state title, and was looking forward to another successful year. Years from now the players on this team will remember this family as the ones who broke up this team for their own selfish reasons.
And to the AD and Administration…you should be ashamed of yourselves.
This is the exact reason why it’s hard to find quality coaches at the HS level. What’s wrong with a coach that creates a culture of hard work and self-discipline? One of the best vehicles for shaping our youth is through team sports. Learning a plan, being able to execute it, learning to play as a team, learning that team success breeds individual success and not the other way around. These are all valuable life lessons.
With the amount of time that a coach has to invest in their program for the love of the kids, this coach deserves better. This coach earned the respect of the players in her program, too bad the AD & Administration didn’t recognize and appreciate it. If I was the AD, I would have supported my coach and the program. The coach had morals and I applaud her for resigning for the right reasons.
What this AD and admistration did was teach these kids and parents that if you complain enough you can get what you want, regardless of the rules.
You should resign and your replacement should rehire the coach.
@kidfirst You are all about ONE kid. What about the other 10 kids on the team? The AD and President of the school decided it was okay to hurt 10 kids, to make 1 kid happy. It is unfair to the rest of the team who loved the coaches dearly and worked hard everyday at practices. Extremely disappointed in the school, especially President Paul Turnbull
Are we arguing about practice? Come on, practice……AI doesn’t seem to think practice mattered either. I don’t think high school basketball matters at all especially when you trying to take your kid pro like this dad. Start your own AAU team “Big Ballers Sistahs” and join the movement. You can call the shots all day with your own team. Move over Storm, Kalakaua, Tarheels the big baller movement is coming to Hawaii like a tsunami approaching Hilo town, whooosh.
@bbball – I’m all about all the kids. No kid gets left behind. We can assume all we want but the truth of the story is within the family, Coaching Staffing and Administration.
Bash the father but the Coach is not innocent either. A good Coach would have communicated with the Kid and make it a positive environment. You have to remember that you are dealing with minors. So sad.
@kids first – the father admits that he got caught up in the moment, apologized, and regrets what happened. He knew what he was doing, and the coach called his bluff and stood his ground. Now his daughter is going to get ostracized from the team. Do you think his daughter is in a better situation now being an outcast vs just apologizing and moving on?
@assume – there is more to the story then what is being published. Just reading between the lines, the coach also admitted ““We’re not as a staff innocent in this. We played a role in the process. I’ll take accountability for the choices we made,” she said. ” so come on it’s not one sided.
The Coach is just to blame too so stop blowing this up as if this is all the Dad and kids fault.
Respect all parties involved. Be a good citizen and speak life.
She might as well as transfer from MPI – the team probably won’t accept her full-on as a member of the team.
I am sorry but kids do get left behind when they make bad choices, do not want to be accountable, and do not have the integrity to apologize.
#removeturnbull
Sounds like all these posts are extreme cases of Cyberbullying. Which is againt the law in the State of Hawaii. In which could be investigated and searched for all the IP Addresses associated with each post. In return can be used also as evidence of Defamation of Character, which is also punishable by law.
Sounds like AD needs to reform, but he lets MP baseball coach get away with a lot of ? stuff.
Braddah man look into this. Let justice be served. Any lawyers out there??
Okay so everybody, you realize that this all happened because of a TEXT, yeah? So the lesson is – if it’s important – CALL, NO TEXT, leave a voice message if no answer but still keep calling the coach or assistant coaches until you get a warm body. That way you can make sure there is no misunderstanding of 1) your child will not be at practice, 2) the emergent reason she will not be at practice, 3) if the coach agrees this is a valid reason not to attend practice, and 4) the consequences of not attending practice if the coach feels this is not a valid reason. *sigh* I don’t understand why does this need to be said so specifically in this day and age…