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Actually, the confusion is on your end. Private sports club league rules have nothing to do with education choices that parents make, and grade-based leagues have nothing to do with age. If you would like to talk about rec leagues, a wider age gap exists in each group, so your argument doesn't work there either. There was never an exact birth year league for lacrosse. To fixate on a kid that repeats 8th grade, or whatever grade, when you paid to be in the grade-based league is ignorant. You can protest by not joining grade-based leagues. Aside from kids that repeat in MS, I assume you think pre-first private school kids are doing something wrong too? Really, at 6 years old, I don't think there is some nefarious plot by parents, looking way ahead, before some even play a particular sport, to game a private club league some years down the road. [/quote]
Actually, you are trying too hard to justify the farce that "grade based" teams have become in the last three years. You are correct that 'there was never an exact birth year league for lacrosse." However, there were (and still are in rec leagues) "age bands" (i.e. U-9, U-11, U-13 etc.). The age bands were not perfect and were not well enforced, but age mattered (at least around the edges). With the advent of grade based teams, the age of the players has become irrelevant. The only criterion is what grade the player is in regardless of his age. The only limit on how old a player can be and still play on a particular grade based team is how many times the player's parents are willing to "hold back" their son. This has proven to be no limit at all and from my perspective an age band should apply to grade based teams. In other words have grade based teams, but also have an age restriction. Grade based teams have led to wild disparities in the size of the players on the field that would comical except for the danger it presents to smaller players (the smaller players being in many, if not most cases at the appropriate age for the grade).
You are correct that "[y]ou can protest by not joining grade based teams," but that is a straw argument (and I am sure you know that). All of the clubs in the DMV have gone to grade based teams which means if your son wants to play competitive lacrosse he is going to be on a grade based team with players (and players on opposing teams) who may be 2 years older (or in some cases more than two years older). Implicit in this is that players that are "on age" and "on grade" have no basis for complaining. Put another way, the conversation seems to always be that it is the "on age" and "on grade" players (and their parents) who have a problem if they complain about "hold backs" rather than the "over age" and "off grade" player (and their parents) who in many cases are in fact gaming the system and creating the problem.
I would also point out that lacrosse is the only youth sport that I am aware of that has no age bands and does not require proof of age by a birth certificate. Lacrosse is not a special case.
