Holding back in 6th grade is definitely deliberate, but I think you are misrepresenting most of the "hold backs" on some of the other teams. Birth year alone does not tell the whole story. If you are born after Sept. 30th, you aren’t allowed to enroll in kindergarten. So while someone born in October, November or December may have an advantage of being 9 months older, they are not breaking the rules...they are actually following them. Just because you see 2012 as a birth year for a 2028 does not mean they reclassified.