Would like to offer my insight on this topic as I am a parent of a child that would be the poster child for this argument. My son was born at the end of November 1999. He made the school cutoff by a few days. We decided to send him to school and let him try it to see how he fared. Long story short, he has done wonderfully in school, academically, socially and athletically.
At present he is playing travel lacrosse with a known program and we are in a big lacrosse town. Up until this year I would say he has done very well and is a very good player. However this year i have noticed he has been struggling against the kids in his age group due to the size, strength and speed difference that starts to happen between 13 and 14,15 yr olds. It is very hard to watch him struggle after watching him for so many years compete at the highest level with these other kids, but as many of you know some of the kids he is playing against were "held back" so in some cases he could be playing against kids almost 2 years older than him.
In retrospect i dont regret my decision, because my son is turning into a great young man and I do believe all of the lacrosse stuff will even out in High School. I do somethimes ponder whether or not I should have held him back, however I think it is a decision each parent must with the childs best interests in mind.
I think the US Lacrosse age rules are fine the way the are written. The problem is the enforcement of the rules. A better system needs to be in place to ensure that kids are playing in the right brackets according to their ages.
Simple solution! Player passes with all needed information. Just turn into official before games.
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