holdbacks, not on age is cheating and sad in youth sports. accept it and move on. Is it sad? Yes. Is it "gaming the system?" Probably.
Is it cheating? No. The rules for HoCo clearly state it is a grade-based league. Get over it.
Agree, while it is completely gaming the system, unfair to many players and goes against just about everything youth sports stands for...it isnt against the rules as the Howard County Recreation Department wrote them up. Howard Country Recreation should have a special place in Maryland lacrosse Hall of Shame.
If the league should be in the hall of shame, where does that leave your son's club? I agree with your sentiment about holdbacks gaming the system, but are you saying that there is a club out there that prohibits holdbacks? If there are no U-age teams among the local clubs, implementing an age-based system in the HoCo league would be like the tail wagging the dog. I saw a very good player on my son's team, top 5 arguably at his position in MD, get cut because a handful of kids reclassed this year. He went from splitting time with another great player to left out in the cold because of reclassing. It's shameful, but the clubs allow it and I doubt a league has the clout to dictate how club teams should organize when there are so many other events that they participate in.
You must not know the history of how the HOCO league was started. Some idiot at age based MYLA decided to hook up with Howard County Recreation Department and start a Club league. It was to compete against age based NYPLL Club league.( NOW GONE) . Howard County Recreation due to influence of MIAA decided to go against everything they have done prior in their leagues, and go Grade base, not age. After that Clubs exploded and the race was on for prefirsts. Crabs had the advantage early. Seems like others have caught up now.
Only apologists for having select older kids play down think this is right. The majority know better. Not much anyone can do now. The majority will just watch as more and more hold their child back. Pretty sad for youth sports
Well, it's more of a curriculum now, so not really some nefarious sports thing. Almost every major private school has prefirst. It's called evolution; public schools should try it.
No one cares about what MIAA private schools and parents do with their children. Hold them back two grades if that is the right thing to do. Parents should always do what is best for their child's education.
But private school prefirsts/holdbacks should have Zero influence of Youth sports outside of their school. And for sure should not be getting an advantage others dont get with exact same birthdays. The reality is that the majority of children 7th grade and below playing down in age are prefirsts at this time.
8th grade is different as it is the time for public and private parents to decide to reclass their children.
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