The motivation to hold your kid back is: 1) to be able to compete with the many other holdbacks at his elite club team and private school. 2) hopefully standout and be recruited.
My son played with kids on the elite teams that were very good players, repeated 8th grade and were superstars the following season. Most of these kids were already D1 caliber kids that probably would have committed as on age 10th graders. Parents egos! The system works for those that are in position economically and egotistically to do so! If there is a clear advantage for those that reclassify, conversely there is a clear disadvantage for those that don't. Otherwise there would be no reason to do so! With 60% of the D1 kids committed by 10th grade and probably 80% by the top 20 D1 teams - age still matters!
The motivation to hold your kid back is: 1) to be able to compete with the many other holdbacks at his elite club team and private school. 2) hopefully standout and be recruited.
My son played with kids on the elite teams that were very good players, repeated 8th grade and were superstars the following season. Most of these kids were already D1 caliber kids that probably would have committed as on age 10th graders. Parents egos! The system works for those that are in position economically and egotistically to do so! If there is a clear advantage for those that reclassify, conversely there is a clear disadvantage for those that don't. Otherwise there would be no reason to do so! With 60% of the D1 kids committed by 10th grade and probably 80% by the top 20 D1 teams - age still matters!
A good, succinct summary of the motivation behind "regrading" and the push-back to it.
Or 3), and most common reason, kid transfers to private school and realizes how much public really really sucked, so parents bite the bullet after carefully vetting the prospect of repeating, inclusive of the school's thoughtful recommendations.
