Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Hey sport. My rising junior is still 15. Not defending the hold back practice just correcting the poster claiming the majority of MD 9th graders are 16. That is a patently false statement. The original post commented on 17 yr old 2019 on UA south roster. UA south is not MD. It's Fla, Ga etc.

Ok let me clarify, clearly the majority of your top kids are holdbacks playing down. That "Sport", is a fact. The majority of the starting kids on your top three travel teams in 2017, 2018 and 2019, are beyond a shadow of a doubt, playing down. Not sure why? I can only assume that they could not compete with the best at the same age from the rest of the country.


Hey sparky, Take a look at the UA Balt Highlight div 2017-2018. Out of 22 there are 3 boys born before the 9/1 cutoffs for their respective grades. I'm guessing that all of those boys are starters on their club teams. My point is it's not the majority or most. It's some. And most of those are born within a few months of the cutoff. There some teams, schools and clubs that promote hold backs and would have a majority (ie 2020 Crabs), but most teams in baltimore will have a handful (less than 5) that were held back early on. My kids are not held back and have spring and summer birthdays. I agree that it crazy to reclass for sports and youth should be age based. But to exaggerate to prove your point cheapens your argument. NY is at a distinct age disadvantage because of your school cut-off. However it was the long island clubs that started the grade based teams. To what end I'm not sure. But all club teams and local tournaments in baltimore were u13, u15 (including crabs and other NYPLL teams) until about 2013-14 when the club scene picked-up. Gradually most clubs changed to grade as most tournaments were grade as were the NY teams that kicked our butts. I know your teams weren't older but it opened the door for all this.

Also check out the birthdays of some of the other UA regions - sout, west etc. Might surprise you that this "epidemic" is not contained to MD


A greater part of the southern Cali explosion promotes the holdback as well. Anyone hungry enough for a cheeseburger will tell you that!