I wish the change would apply to 28s. In Hoco next year, jumbo lump will field his oldest and most geographically diverse team ever after the 27s couldn’t get it done and BL races to fill its dorm. For existing teams (this years version) with June as the cutoff, hypothetically ML would lose one well documented player and maybe another. FCA would lose 3-4, NL at least 3, Crabs 2-3 and I don’t think BLC, Hawks or 91 would lose any since July is the sideline chatter as the oldest current players on those teams. As a parent of a 28 and older kids, this change is welcome and will help the sport but a shame the impact on 28 will be limited.
You are underestimating the number of holdbacks on each of these teams. This is one topic where sideline chatter is almost certain to be inaccurate. But, more importantly, you are over-estimating the effect on your own player of removing holdbacks. Due to kids hitting grown spurts at different times, there always will be players in 7th and 8th grade who are on-age, but are exceptionally big, strong, and aggressive. Plus there will be fly-ins, and unfortunately there will always be some degree of cheating, whether real or imaginary. Holdbacks are the bogeyman behind the curtain that parents blame for the fact that their son, who used to be a superstar in grades 3-6, becomes ordinary in grades 7-8 because other kids, for whatever reason, have surpassed him. On age kids who have always been superstars and continue that in grades 7 - 8 are not the ones whose parents on this forum complain about holdbacks. Rather, those parents are happy to brag that their on age son enjoys the competition of matching up and beating the holdbacks. If your son is an average, on-age player in the elite division who is currently getting run over by holdbacks, taking away the holdbacks will not make him shoot up to the top. In other words, if he is struggling against holdbacks, there are plenty of on age kids that he will struggle against too. But this is a moot discussion because the holdbacks are here to stay in the 2028 class, so get used to it.
