Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
How many holdbacks play on varsity HS teams?
2019/2018/2017


Many as the MIAA HS teams are loaded with holdbacks. MD Public's not so much. No big deal as all MIAA teams have holdbacks so it is evened out in competition. Does make the quality of play better as you watch "technically" many College Freshman playing HS ball.


I'm having a hard time understanding what we are all defining as a "holdback". I think its all insanity but I see some people referring to kids who are heldback a year in school but I am also seeing some people refer to kids who "intend to do a PG year". I intend to lose 20 lbs, but that doesn't mean squat today. What's the deal


A holdback is a kid who has repeated a grade or done an extra grade early on (pre-1st) ostensibly to gain some type of advantage over his 'peers' later on in school - typically on the athletic field. This creates a situation where a kid is a year older than those he is competing against, in the middle school years this extra year can make a very big difference.

Parents are going to do what they do but this becomes a bigger problem when it is team policy to seek out these kids or encourage parents to hold their kids back, as is frequently alleged with the Crabs.

This is not to be confused with the other problem of teams who knowingly bring in older kids or register their teams in a lower age group so as to do better in tournaments, which is the case with Rising Sons and Edge Canada respectively.

Both of these issues have been discussed at length in this thread and others. The only solution is that this sport get organized and require proof of age for all leagues and tournaments - like real sports do it.