[Chris Fultz]

After a problem a few years ago when a student said he was always there, and the menors said no you weren't - we started recording attendance. Students must sign in and out. Students are required to meet a minimum number of nights, and a minimum number of hours on those nights (you can't show up, sign in and leave). Students can get bonus attendance points for working the unscheduled times during the final weeks of build.

If a student is not contributing, we deal with that as it is happening instead of waiting until travel time to bring it up.

Students must also meet school requirements to stay on the team and to travel with the team. All students are required to have a signed form from teachers stating that it is acceptable for them to miss xx days and that their academic work is good.

We even give an attendance award at our team awards night.
Have a written policy, and enforce it.

And, to the other part of your question - a lot of good scouting goes on during Thursday. You need to begin to identify who can do what so that you are ready for your first match on Friday. Scouting information will change during matches Friday and Saturday as teams break or get fixed and improve, but you have to be ready in case you are match #1 on Friday.