Best birth date for softball.

[Eric F]

2. Born in September making the player the oldest in her graduating class.

Nope. I'm Sept. 24. I was always one of the youngest in my class. My DD is Sept. 11. Same story.

 

[JAD]

You should read the book "Outliers". It discusses birthdates in relation to hockey players development. My DD is an Oct birthday, making her one of the youngest players on her TB teams and old for her grade (2017). I think it worked out pretty well for her, but since I do not have a DD with a Jan birthday it is hard to compare.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Nope. I'm Sept. 24. I was always one of the youngest in my class. My DD is Sept. 11. Same story.

I presume that was due to CA's kindergarten cutoff being Dec 2 back then. They moved it up a month at a time in 2012-14 to Sept 1.

I think the early-year birth dates are advantageous when they're young in rec leagues. I noticed our 12U TB team had a lot of early birth dates.

Being older for their grade in HS is more important for boys than girls.

 

[Eric F]

I presume that was due to CA's kindergarten cutoff being Dec 2 back then. They moved it up a month at a time in 2012-14 to Sept 1.

Being that my little one is in 7th grade, I was not aware of that change. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mike Alwine]

I want to have this conversation with DW. I know we want kids but they need to be born in December, preferable at the end of the month.

The money we save by combining birthday and Xmas can put put towards SB too.

Win/ Win.

You forgot the child tax credit, for the year before.....

 

[Mike Alwine]

I am a Jan 1 kid. I competed in Summer Track and for the life of me I cannot remember how it affected participation.
But, the DD is a June kid, and I joked about "red-shirting" her for kindergarten, as to make her have one more year to develop physically. I am so glad DW was not allowing that. She probably would have ended up just graduating HS a year earlier, and ruining my plan. As it is, I am looking forward to Senior year for her, spending more time at work, than at school.

 

[Gambler Bob]

Nope. I'm Sept. 24. I was always one of the youngest in my class. My DD is Sept. 11. Same story.

Did a little google research and found out that some states are different than other states in regards to the school cut off date. Most states are Aug 15th - Sept 15th but there are quite a few exceptions. I live in Illinois and we have a Sept 1st cutoff date.

 

[1bucketmom]

Can't remember if it was in The Talent Code or a different book, but as a general rule it's better to be born right after the cutoff than right before. Those players tend to do better as a group because they're a year older than some of the kids they're playing against, which especially at the younger ages can make a huge difference in strength, speed, size, coordination, etc.

The book mentioned a study of youth hockey players in Canada, where there is a pretty well established system for separating the great players from everyone else and moving them up. The ones born just after the cutoff consistently got moved up to higher levels, which meant they received better coaching, which allowed them to separate themselves from the rest even more and so forth.

Not sure it matters as much in softball where there isn't an established infrastructure for moving through the ranks. But I'll bet it still helps somewhat. And yes, there are always exceptions.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Birthdate does make a difference in the younger age groups (under 16) after that I think everything starts to even out, physically.

 

[3bmama]

Nope. I'm Sept. 24. I was always one of the youngest in my class. My DD is Sept. 11. Same story.

. A lot of states have changed the cutoff in recent years. In both MO and NE it is now the end of July so my son who was born Sept 2 will be one of the oldest kids. He is 3 and the size of many 5 year olds already. It's going to be comical.

 

[BobInMadison]

My DDs were all born early in the year, with DD 3 born January 3. Always the oldest kid on her TB teams. It has been an advantage for her.

My DS was born July 4. For HS sports he was always one of the youngest. Definitely a disadvantage until his sophomore year in college. His school has a small but pretty competitive rowing team. Bigger schools emphasize the Varsity 8 boat. His small school emphasize the Varsity 4. As a freshman he just missed making the freshman 4, but as a sophomore he was the only non-senior on the Varsity 4.

So, at some point the bad birthdays even out. It takes a while.