1. We should all acknowledge that be on the older side of a particular class is advantage, whether because a kid was born Sept 2001 or August 2001.
2. There are a some kids that made this "controversial" list that were born in the fall of 2001. Ironically 2 are BL players. If we are to champion these kids as overcoming the "burdens" of competing as "on-age" players we can't simultaneously call kids born sometimes a few days or weeks earlier as "cheaters"
3. The double hold-back is a myth. Not to say it has never happened but nobody can point to any player, past or present and conclusively point to such a kid. An anonymous posting that my kid talked to another kid at a showcase who said he was 17 as a freshman is not proof. There is a kid on the list that was ridiculed as such on this forum and his bday was published on the UA roster as spring 01. Old for a 2020 but not a double hold back.
4. Most of the kids competed and made contributions on varsity teams as 15 year old freshman or just turning 16. They played against kids that were obviously up to 4 years older.
5. This isn't new. Under the former U15 rules kids who were held back just got a second year at u15 while most of their peers were freshman in HS. I was a 17 year old in the fall of my freshman year. The only reason a resented it was that I got my drivers license later than most and I had to use a fake ID until senior year of college.
6. We're talking high school. I agree that youth should be by age. But HS and HS club is never changing and there's no reason to. Complaining about the relative ages of some guys opinions of the best HS is pointless
#3 is no myth. Double holdback on FCA
Just because you say it anonymously on the internet does not make it true. If he is then we'll know in few years when he can't play sports as a senior. If you know his bday has him turning 19 before senior year call him out to MIAA brass if he's playing. Rules are rules.
They posted birthdays on the UA team this year, so you can look it up in about 10 seconds. No need to do pretend waiting. Held back one time in ms. Spring '01 birthday. This one always comes back up to exaggerate a narrative.
