Unfortunately the 2017 will be starting HS in the fall and will attend JV and varsity level games and this becomes a bit more muted for them, this needs to be a driving force on all the younger level forums. 2022 to 2018
I am curious to the fact for "anyone in the know". Did you start you child late in school (held them back) but currently say your child is "playing up" in grade, although you know the "playing up" is really where they are supposed to be playing in the first place.
This conversation happened on the sidelines of a 2019 game.
Dad x - "Did you know "little Johnny" is playing up, so you could imagine how good he is when he plays with is own grade!!!
Dad y - You do realize the boy he is playing against is my son 3 weeks younger than your son and in the right grade.
Dad x - Wow didn't know that, you should hold him back in 8th grade, he would be a stud in HS.
Agreed also by high school most of the boys are done growing. The size difference between a 12 and 13 year old will be much greater compared to a 16 to 17 year old. Having age appropriate tournaments with birth certificate proof will stop all of the nonsense with parents holding a child back or different school starts that vary from state to state. This would work as it does in many other sports I.E. hockey .
Good post! The thing is this, I can see both sides of this argument. I can speak intelligently on this because I have a son who is currently in 8th grade and playing on a 2017 "A" club team. He is a late November of 1999 kid. This past year was the toughest so far because this is the age where most kids are turning 14 and growing, puberty etc. The age disparity for him is compounded obviously as at some tournaments he can be up to 2 years younger than kids he is playing against. I sometimes think I did him a disservice by not holding him back. I wish I had a dollar for everyone that told me I should hold him back this year. At this point I feel like its too late and he is already established in school and with his friends. Although in my case I will not hold my son back, I can see how some people will.
The public schools will not allow you to hold your kid back for athletic reasons. If one was inclined to do so, how could it be done without moving the kid to a private school like maybe friends or greenvale? I'd like to know if anybody has been able to do this for other than academic reasons. Thanks.
If you're interested then I suggest to call the schools and see what they say.
I do know this happens for hockey and kids leave their public school and repeat their junior year in a very elite, private school with an excellent hockey team that has a good record for kids going off to division 1 hockey teams upon graduation. This is not a secret and is spoken of openly.
I have not heard of anyone doing that in lacrosse as of yet, but it would not surprise me.
I do think that teams and tournaments should police on their own if US LAx will not. I think once you hit 9th grade you can go grade level. My son is a solid 14 year old and weighs 165- friends of his weigh as much as 185 and others weigh 87. There is a huge difference at the 8th grade level.
However, I also have a son that started school late for language and maturity reasons. He does not happen to be big for his age, and is still quite immature, so would hate for him to be penalized for his age when he misses the cut off by 2 weeks and needed that extra time to develop along with his peers and not be left behind his peers to struggle each year.
You cannot have it both ways though, and even though my youngest son would be penalized and not allowed to play with his friends ( and he is not a stand out player- so he probably would not be able to make a team if he tried out with the grade up)- I think it is important to do so for the majority of the kids and their safety.
