I'm obviously missing something but the kid had a death in the family...I don't get it.
It's sounding more and more like an issue of not respecting the coaching staff and team.
Almost all situations deserve 2 or 3 days off for a death in the immediate family, but there can even be exceptions to this. I once knew a guy who made a career out of working the system. He automatically took 3 days off from work when his wife died. He was shocked to find out that he did not get paid and was counted as unexcused. The company actually had a sound reason for doing so - about 6 weeks earlier he asked for and was given 3 days off when he told the company that "his lady" had died. The manager told him that they would pay for one or the other, but not both.