Uhhh… my kid already competes with older kids because he’s on age! Your kid can’t so you held him back. So who won’t be able to compete in HS? What are you going to do when he’s on the 3rd team as a junior? Hold him back again?
Your logic is the worst.
Didn’t assume a Hawks dad could calculate through the logic, so here it goes:
Your wunderkind who is playing on-age, and getting run over by the holdbacks (otherwise you wouldn’t be complaining), will never sniff the turf in HS until he’s a Senior, when he’s playing kids ranging from only one year older to 2 years younger. His first 3 years he’s playing against these God-forsaken holdbacks that are 4, 3, 2 years older than your little Johnny. Best of luck with that. But keep complaining, maybe you’ll find lots of sympathy from the other dads whose kids are on age (guess what— mine is not only on-age, but a very young on-age kid, not because I’m some virtuoso against the holdback thing, I just planned poorly, I suppose).
Get over the holdback thing— it’s not changing, it’s the way it is. If your kid is on age and playing competitively in Elite 2028, congratulations, he has beaten the odds and might see the field by his Junior year.
Or when the on age kid catches up on the maturity scale they will actually be in a better position to succeed given they have had to play vs older kids their entire life. Meanwhile, holdback boy won’t be the bigger kid anymore and struggle.
So the big kid who is held back will struggle because he’s been playing against inferior competition all his life? That is your logic? Good luck with that pal. I hope you’re right because my kid is not only on age, but young. Nothing I can do about it at this point, he loves the kid + his team and I’m not holding him back. He just has to work a little harder.
Honestly (not trolling) I think the general assessment from the last 5 years of MIAA kids is that double-holdback kids tend to peak at about age 17, which is ideal for recruiting obviously, but then settle into obscurity at their top-10 college roster where everyone else is as good as they are, or better. This is still a pretty fabulous outcome for a young man (scholarships, part of an elite lax unit at college, probably getting a great education and network) but no, in fact, the 24 year olds don't *usually* shine so bright in college.
Has COVID aging (thinking of the 26 year old at UNC) upended that? Maybe. With more and more blue chip athletes going to "free" community college or prep school before using their 1st year of D1 eligibility these days, maybe this pattern gets disrupted and the older kids do come out on top again. But not yet.
There are more and more... First holdback , then PG , then College Red Shirt, then finally a Freshman ... It is starting to work.. Look at UNC and Look at UMD Lefty from BL,what is he 30 now? I know , he is only 25. College sports has lost its way in many ways.
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