I have a child who reclassified and I think the repeated references to cheating is way off base. In my child's situation he was an incredibly late bloomer. His peers finished growing before he even started. Trust me, he took his lumps as the "small guy" in middle school sports. Reclassifying gave him an extra year to catch up from a growth perspective. His skills were always advanced for his age and he worked his butt off on the things he could control (lax IQ, fitness, stick skills). If coaches are going to look at kids in 8th grade which advantages the early bloomers, why shouldn't a child reclassify to remove the disadvantage of hitting puberty late? My experience has been that the parents who complain the loudest about reclassifying are the parents of the kids who started shaving in sixth grade. The kids I do feel bad for are the kids who are late bloomers and whose families do not have the flexibility (financial or otherwise) to reclassify them. I think most would agree that the current recruiting timeline leaves a lot to be desired. But I don't think it's fair or helpful to flame a parent or child for doing what benefits them in a flawed system.
