Originally Posted by Anonymous
This holdback thing was completely thrown in my face this summer.

explaining how it works went something like this.

Them: which boy is yours?

Me: ###

Them: Wow he is thick

Me: "Johnnie" is a big boy for his age, his birthday is September. By other state schools definition, he could be a year younger in school and play a year lower in sports. On LI it is Dec 1 or Jan 1st or something in between.

Them: Our (Declan) son is born in June, in our district (Cali) he would have been one of the youngest in his grade so we decided to wait and have him be the oldest. Wasnt fair to him to be the youngest. and he has a slight frame.

Me: I guess someone has to be the youngest.

Them: your LI teams are good. are they all aged like your son's team.

ME: many are,

Them: we were at the WSYL the past few years. someone said they werent real teams

Me: "John" was asked to play in the WSYL, but it was for a new team they were making in his organization. they would play 4/5 games then go to Denver.

Them: thats not fair, it isnt his team.

Me: yeah, how about that. If any LI team would go with the summer team they would be younger so they create new teams. Many kids play on 1 or 2 teams anyway. These teams fit the age boundaries. they play 4/5 games and becomes a team..

Them: How is that fair?

Me: I dont mean to be rude but you say fair, to me your boy is playing down?

Them: well he is the youngest on the team

Me: wait he is playing down and the youngest on the team, and you are complaining about what is fair. admittingly I regret it, but I said no to my son playing down. So please I no longer get what is fair or not. the WSYL maybe a farce with the age cutoffs, since it hasnt been consistent since inception. but age is age.

Them: I guess you are right, how old are the boys on the field now?

ME: 15/16

Them: oh, but what year are they?

ME: 2019

Them: I still dont get why you have them play 2019 they should be 2020? They are playing against older kids.

ME: well that is how we do it? thanks for the conversation have a great day good luck


Qtr changes and gave me an excuse to exit stage right....

My outtake why the [lacrosse] doesnt the government have a set date for school (across the country). People dont get it . When did cheating become the norm. When kids across the country go to college it is a bell curve of ages, why not have a consistent age of when you should go in. Heck, not just in sport but academics also. Hey Im not saying take away a PG or holdback, you want to PG or hold back okay go ahead, but let everyone be on the same page of what is going on. You want to gain an advantage because you/He/She couldnt do it the right way. Now you need to find that back door.



If the gubment - listened to folks like you and instituted strict guidelines on what age a kid must be to be in that particular grade in the name of "fairness" for a particular sport, they would get pushback and opposition never before seen. Look beyond your small world of lacrosse and maybe you might understand how people get away with it. Have you ever noticed how old some of those boys are that are being drafted by the NFL? Juniors in some of those major SEC programs who are 22 or 23 at the draft, that's not on age. But, a lot of times, those are not intentional holdbacks. And then you want the gubment to institute something that would run counter to the NCLB's replacement the ESSA. Please pass that on to your local representative or Senator and see how far that gets along.