Agree with the above post. late summer birthdays are not holdbacks in my opinion.
They are not. A holdback is a reclass. It is a kid who repeats a grade -- usually eighth grade -- for non-academic reasons. It is for the purpose of gaining an athletic advantage. A child who holds off beginning kindegarten because he has a late summer birthday is not a holdback. Ask any kindegarten teacher: he or she will tell you that boys are better off waiting if they are a late summer birthday. You might thing: what difference does a couple of months make. Well, it makes a tremendous amount of difference. If you know anything about development or have ever taken an developmental education class, you would know this. Particularly in the modern classroom where kindergarten is what first grade used to be. Students are expected to be reading! This is why pre-first came about in private schools. Kids simply are not ready for the rigor of the curriculum when they are months younger than classmates. It gives parents the prerogative of waiting until the child is ready so that they do not fail from the beginning. If you do not have the option and are not a private school person, you can opt to wait to begin kindergarten in public school if you are a late summer birthday. Do some research about school readiness. Any kindergarten teacher will agree it is advisable. And don't even get me started about a co-ed situation. Boys are typically a full year behind girls in readiness and maturity.
AGREE
These discussion arent why or what reason the children are held back. This is about a select group of children getting an advantage in youth sports that the majority of children dont get. Pretty simple concept..
And a kid held back in Kindergarten is heldback..Doesn't mean it is wrong in the less bit but the kid was held back compared to his peers.
how much advantage does a boy have with a July / August birthday have over a September / October birthday?
Not much..But he has a huge advantage over other Children not held back who were born in July and / Aug of following year, and follow USL age rules. If you dont think there is an advantage of a 3rd over 4th or 5th or 4th grader than you have forgotten about elementary school.
If you want the special prefirst/holdback to play down..Then everyone should be able to play down. Youth sports wasnt made for special groups of players. Make the age 6 months to one year less than USL guidelines and let the parents decide.Anybody can play down regardless of grade. That would actually be fair.
