There are kids on "Every Team" that are older than the norm.
PAL / Town Teams at the youth level.
Club Teams at the youth level.
Middle School / JHS Teams.
Club Teams in the 7th and 8th grade.
JV and Varsity High School Teams.
HS Club Teams.
College Teams.
Are they all 'Cheaters" ? Are the parents who hold the child back from starting Kindergarden any different than the parents who hold the child back in the 9th grade? Are they Different than the parents who have their child do a Post Graduate Year at a Prep School? Are they different from the Parents who agree to have their child Redshirt in College?
Did Garden City have any holdbacks last Year? How about Ward Melville? I would bet that there are some boys at WM and GC who are holdbacks. What about Duke? Is Rob Pannell a cheater? Pannell did a PG year after HS and Redshirted at Cornell, Did Cornell Cheat? Is Pannell a Cheater? Did he take the spot of another kid?
This has been going on for a very long time. Starting school late, switching from public to private after 9th grade, PGing and redshirting have all been going on for as long as I can remember.
My kids are in the grade that the School District says they should be in but when the time comes maybe I will consider one of the options available.
