- Jul 9, 2021
- 13
- 3
The cut off for groups is always the player's age (birthdate) based on December 31. But here's something that I don't think is taken into consideration.
Scenario:
Let's say a mom has an abnormal pregnancy and for whatever reason has a child prematurely on December 1 of 2010 at 27 weeks. The actual due date was to be in February 2011, but for whatever reason the baby was born pre-maturely. A baby that early could be 1-2 lbs at the time of "birth". That baby spends the first 2 months of their life in a hospital and if they're lucky get to go home around February in 2011 and at that point could be anywhere from 4lbs to 5lbs. This would be around the time of the "normal" due date of February 2011. That baby could technically have a birthdate of say December 1 2012, but was realistically (adjusted birthdate) would of been February of 2011 when that baby was brought home. In this case the player would be considered 11 years of age (12U) based on their premature birthdate going into next year, but their adjusted birthdate/home date would be February of 2011 and could be playing another year of 10U if the adjusted home/due date was taken into consideration. Most children that are born very prematurely usually take 2-3 years to "catch up" developmentally with full-term babies. Thoughts on possible age exception for the rare players that might fall into this category?
Scenario:
Let's say a mom has an abnormal pregnancy and for whatever reason has a child prematurely on December 1 of 2010 at 27 weeks. The actual due date was to be in February 2011, but for whatever reason the baby was born pre-maturely. A baby that early could be 1-2 lbs at the time of "birth". That baby spends the first 2 months of their life in a hospital and if they're lucky get to go home around February in 2011 and at that point could be anywhere from 4lbs to 5lbs. This would be around the time of the "normal" due date of February 2011. That baby could technically have a birthdate of say December 1 2012, but was realistically (adjusted birthdate) would of been February of 2011 when that baby was brought home. In this case the player would be considered 11 years of age (12U) based on their premature birthdate going into next year, but their adjusted birthdate/home date would be February of 2011 and could be playing another year of 10U if the adjusted home/due date was taken into consideration. Most children that are born very prematurely usually take 2-3 years to "catch up" developmentally with full-term babies. Thoughts on possible age exception for the rare players that might fall into this category?