Row Georgia - Managing My Season - How To...

Attendance Policy

Proper planning for athlete attendance is crucial to ensure smooth practices and efficient use of resources. It's important to declare your attendance on your BC profile as early as possible. Note - Practices are set for the season. Unless you receive formal communicating indicating a practice has been cancelled, all practices are set for the season, regardless of holidays or individual school schedules. 

Why It Matters: Properly managing your attendance shows your commitment to the team. Since equipment is often used across multiple programs, even one absence can have a ripple effect, impacting boat availability and lineups for all athletes. Coaches reserve equipment around other crews based on declared attendance. An absence can have a domino effect across boats and crews. For competitive athletes, attendance significantly influences lineup opportunities. For non-competitive athletes, declaring absences helps coaches reserve the necessary equipment and plan the session accordingly. High performance crews require high performing crew members! 

Key Points to Remember:

  • Declaring "attending" or "not attending" in your BC profile is required. An undeclared (shows up as "unknown") is a violation of the attendance policy and will negatively impact participation. It's simple and takes < 10 seconds.
  • Declare Attendance Plans Early in Your BC Profile: Aim to declare your plans at least one week in advance, or as soon as the practice is posted. At a minimum, coaches require your plans to be declared in your BC profile at least 24 hours before practice. This allows the team to make necessary adjustments to lineups and equipment.
  • Planned Absences: If you already know about a scheduled absence (such as an SAT/ACT test or another event),
    • declare "not attending" it as soon as the practice is posted in your BC profile. Early declarations provide your team with more flexibility in planning and adjusting lineups and equipment. 
    • email the coaches the reason for the absence.
    • All absence reasons may not be "excused". Emailing the coaches does not make an absence excused.
    • Multiple unexcused absences will result in limited participation in lineups and races. 
  • Plans Change? If you declared "attending", but you cannot attend, simply change your declaration for that day as soon as you know. If you are changing to "not attending" from "attending", again, you must email the coaches with the reason for the absence. 
  • Habitually declaring "attending", but not attending is a violation of the attendance policy, and will negatively impact participation. This greatly negatively impacts practice planning for lineups and equipment. 
  • Missing the Declaration Window: If you attempt to declare a change from "attending" to "not attending" after the window to declare has closed, you'll receive a "window is locked" message. Email your coach(es) immediately with your "not attending" details. 

By staying proactive with your attendance, you'll help ensure smoother practices for everyone, keep the team running efficiently. How you manage your attendance directly impacts your participation opportunities.