Agree with the above statement. It'll sort itself out when teams play and there will be a much better picture a month from now-for what it's worth. I agree 91 is the best on LI and I don't think that'll change but I expect the MD teams to be a step ahead given their physical superiority and maturity at this point. (I won't belabor this "phenomena"). That is not data driven, but anecdotal as I think most familiar with the sport understand why... (and also why LI has dominated the age based tournaments)
What is the cutoff for grades up in NY? Is it calendar, 12/31? In MD/VA, it’s 9/1. So, the 2028 teams down here have a lot of kids getting ready to turn 13 after 9/1. And, yes, some kids who are late birthdays, most of them May -August, who were already held back at Kindergarten. I’m a parent on one of the top teams (son is March 2010 Birthday) and I’d say 25% of our kids turn 13 between May and Sept 1st— technically making them holdbacks. But none of them were reclassed after kindergarten (I’m implying it was not done for sports reasons when they were 5 years old).
Anyway, just anectodal and maybe not indicative of all the teams— but the assumption that these teams down here are all loaded with holdbacks is just false. You’ll see it on the field, our kids are no bigger than the kids from upper Northeast.
