Team Time Program
Team Time is a program which rewards and documents attendance. The program helps the Coach manage absences in a manner that is fair to all members. Each team member will be responsible for deciding whether she can afford to miss practice or not and justifying absences based on personal goals. This places the responsibility on the individual team member.
In order to be a responsible team member, each girl should show the same commitment to the team by being at all practices and team meetings; however, I know that there will be instances where teammates will need to miss a practice or a portion of a practice for a variety of reasons (Spanish Club, Kids Club, Track, Volleyball, Student Council, illness, family obligations, vacations, etc.). We want active, talented girls on the Dance Team, but we must also have a commitment to other teammates for Dance as well. Dancers should and will be expected to make regular attendance a priority.
In this program, every girl will be required to accumulate a specified minimum number of hours of "team time" within a specified time period in order to perform. This minimum will likely be around 90% of the total "team time" scheduled within a certain period. Of course, many girls will go over that minimum, and that is acknowledged in fun ways! In fact, we had many girls who missed only 1 or 2 practices the entire season last year!
Although individual team members will decide the importance of other obligations requiring absence from a Dance Team activity, absences will be excused only if the Coach has been given prior notice. Dancers will be expected to record upcoming absences on the master calendar. If something comes up between practices, the Coach should be emailed or called prior to the absence. A team member should not expect parents or other teammates to "relay a message" as this does not exhibit maturity or responsibility.
For the summer, 100 hours of "team time" is required before the first day of classes on August 25, 2009, in order to perform at Knight Madness in early November. It sounds like a lot, but these hours will include UDA camp time (30-35 hours), all practices (45-50 hours), scheduled meetings, youth camp pre and instruction time, choreography sessions, team building socials, concessions, etc. Any time spent working for the good of the Dance Team as a whole will count. So team members may miss for vacations and other activities throughout the summer but need to make sure they get their total minimum hours completed by the deadline.
The "team time" program continues throughout the dance season, and minimum requirements for specific periods are announced as the season progresses.