Age exemption thoughts

[Kiddj22]

Haha, our kids were primarily 9u and missed a summer due to COVID. I promise our kids k ow what they're doing, just behind physically.

And when I say we were C, we didn't play all C teams.

My kids won't quit softball, but I bet there are some undersized kids that do at an early age that would of been fine if they stuck with it because they have zero confidence and are behind physically.

 

[Eric F]

Nope, I get it.

This definitely wouldn't be to gain a competitive advantage. We played C level and were 4-12 this year. One of the kids is 47 lbs heading into 5th grade. Moving up to 12u next year.

12U has a pretty big size dynamic, but wait until 14U - LOL. 14U has 15yos who look a whole lot like women, and 13yos who look a whole lot like kids. The height difference between tallest and shortest on my DD's 14U team was about 12", and we saw plenty of players that were taller and shorter than our extremes.

 

[Long Baller]

Maybe you can identify as whatever year you want to be? I hear that "reclassing" is a thing now for college recruiting.

 

[soonerfan1966]

My grandson actually was a premature birth(weighed 3ish pounds). I think physical would take a backseat to the maturation/emotional. August birthdate but was held back in 3rd grade because of the maturation/emotional process.

 

[radness]

Maybe you can identify as whatever year you want to be? I hear that "reclassing" is a thing now for college recruiting.

? Reclassing by taking a red shirt year?

 

[Strike2]

When they get older, HS graduation year becomes the critical number, not birth year or playing age.

100% correct.

If a kid is behind developmentally, delay entry into Kindergarten for a year.

 

[Long Baller]

? Reclassing by taking a red shirt year?

By sitting out a year between HS and college.

 

[Yanko70]

By sitting out a year between HS and college.

Or by graduating a year early

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[Yanko70]

That would be nice, but parents would probably hold a kid back just to have them play in a better grade. As mentioned above, people will try to take advantage of everything. But I'd be fine with grade, but you'd have to also limit age with that as well.

It would take a sick individual to hold back a second grader just to play softball. Now I know it happens with 8th graders and football (since 8th grade is doesn't count for your HS transcript)

That said you could always go to a 10/1 cut off. That would get 99% of the kids in each grade.

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[CMMom1740]

I deal with this issue fairly frequently as a child psychologist who primarily does testing. When a child is a "micro-preemie" (e.g., born three months or more early-ish), I usually score the child's performance based on their actual birth date and their expected due date. It usually doesn't make much of a difference or change their scores a whole lot. There can be some advantages to being undersized in softball. Turn her left and make her a slapper. Plus she's probably speedy. It will all shake out once she reaches high school age since there are kids 14-18 playing ball together for school and often on 18U teams.