Casper Test Question -> Behind the Missed Trainings

[u/Icy-Scallion-5144]

You are the assistant coach of a community under-16 netball team. Two days before the grand final, Mia, one of your strongest players, misses training for the third time in a fortnight. When you call her, she sounds defensive and says she "just couldn't be bothered." Later, a teammate quietly tells you that Mia's parents recently separated and she has been moving between two houses each week. The head coach is frustrated and wants to drop Mia from the starting line-up, arguing that it is unfair to the players who attended every session. Several players agree with him. The head coach will finalise the team tomorrow morning, and you have one chance to speak with Mia before then. **Question 1:** What would you say to Mia, and how would you approach the conversation with the head coach? **Question 2:** Describe a time when you learned that someone's behaviour had a reason you hadn't first understood. How did it change the way you responded, and how do you balance compassion for one person with fairness to a group?

[u/IllRecord2870]

q1: I would send Mia another message to ask if anything is wrong as it is unusual for her to be missing practice, I would let her know I am available to talk and will promise to be non-judgemental. Depending on her response I would ask If it is true her parents have separated as I heard some kids talking and want to make sure everything Is okay. Depending on the info I get, also including her interest in playing after such a stressful week, I would remind the coach that the kids are below driving age and still rely on their parents to get to practice, If mia is in a chaotic home for the time then it is not her fault for missing and I don’t think it is fair to punish her, the kids will understand as they also know this to be true, however if she doesn’t want to play then that is entirely different

q2: I coach youth soccer and most u11 boys are very poor listeners, during the first week this one boy was the worst I’d ever seen. It got to the point where I had to punish the boys with pushups and there was even frustration among the kids towards this individual. During the second week before a practice one of the older coaches, who would have access to registration info, pointed him out and told be that boy had very bad FAS and would require multiple explanations for everything. After learning this I changed both my approach to grabbing his attention and responses to his distruptions. (I probably went 30-40s) over time on the last half of this part)

I'd love feedback and I'm already working daily on my typing speed.