Why Jan. 1st Cut off date?

[Lenski]

Why is January the first month of the year???

Because the Romans said so. We use their calendar.

 

[Lenski]

Hi All, first post.
I am wondering if there is a reason for the ASA Jan. 1st birth date rule? I am not complaining, but in 5 years of travel ball no parent or coach knows of the reason.
My daughters birth date is 12-21-2001. She is now on a 16U team, all girls are first year 16U. All but my daughter and 1 other girl are Sophomores, mines a Freshman. Her old 14U team is half Freshman, half 8th graders (which is bad for the 8th graders if too many freshman play HS ball).
Why wouldn't it just be each states school cut off dates? They only very a couple months apart and it would only affect kids who were held back for one reason or another.
I am very happy with her new team, well coached and competitive.
Just wondering though.

Because it's easy. The better question is: Why does school start in August/September?

 

[Greenmonsters]

Because the Romans said so. We use their calendar.

from EarthSky.org

People didn’t always celebrate the new year on January 1. The earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia, circa 2000 B.C. That celebration – and many other ancient celebrations of the new year following it – were celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, around March 20. Meanwhile, the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the autumnal equinox around September 20. And the ancient Greeks celebrated on the winter solstice, around December 20.

By the Middle Ages, though, in many places the new year began in March. Around the 16th century, a movement developed to restore January 1 as New Year’s Day. In the New Style or Gregorian calendar, the New Year begins on the first of January.

Bottom line: There’s no astronomical reason to celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1. Instead, our modern New Year’s celebration stems from the ancient, two-faced, Roman god Janus – for whom the month of January is also named. One face of Janus looked back into the past, and the other peered forward to the future.

 

[Lenski]

from EarthSky.org

People didn’t always celebrate the new year on January 1. The earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia, circa 2000 B.C. That celebration – and many other ancient celebrations of the new year following it – were celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, around March 20. Meanwhile, the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the autumnal equinox around September 20. And the ancient Greeks celebrated on the winter solstice, around December 20.

By the Middle Ages, though, in many places the new year began in March. Around the 16th century, a movement developed to restore January 1 as New Year’s Day. In the New Style or Gregorian calendar, the New Year begins on the first of January.

Bottom line: There’s no astronomical reason to celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1. Instead, our modern New Year’s celebration stems from the ancient, two-faced, Roman god Janus – for whom the month of January is also named. One face of Janus looked back into the past, and the other peered forward to the future.

See! It was the dang Romans!

 

[BobInMadison]

I think the phrase "April Fool" came from the more urban and sophisticated people celebrating the new, modern New Year of Jan 1 making fun of the hicks who still celebrated the old New Years of April 1.

 

[Lenski]

I think the phrase "April Fool" came from the more urban and sophisticated people celebrating the new, modern New Year of Jan 1 making fun of the hicks who still celebrated the old New Years of April 1.

LOL

About 30 years ago, I played a prank on the department secretary on April Fool's Day. I left her a message that Myra Maines called for her and gave her the number of a funeral home.

Hello. T.P. White and Sons
Yes. May I speak with Myra Maines please?
Who?
Myra Maines.
I think you have the wr.........oh, get it?
Get what?
Myra Maines.......MY REMAINS.....haha, that's a good one. This is a funeral home.
Oh, I'm sorry to bother you. [hangs up phone]
LENNY GOD DAMN YOU!!!!

We laughed for days.......

 

[Vertigo]

Thats true Eric, I just wanted to know if the ASA had a reason to pick that date. For travel ball, Fall would seem to make more sense, like September 1st around when most schools start. Little League was May 1st and I heard they changed it to August 31st, that makes more sense. Im not asking because I want my kid to still be in 14u, she needs to be in 16u.

Little League softball is the same as ASA as far as Dec. 31st being the last day of the age cutoff. Baseball is different.

 

[grcsftbll]

Because it's easy. The better question is: Why does school start in August/September?

YES! I was just thinking about how weird that is.

 

[MTR]

Actually, as I recall the original ASA cutoff date was September 1. Then they changed it to Jan. 1, probably back in the late 90s or early 2000s. Not sure why they felt the need. Maybe it just made things nice and neat, or coincided with their fiscal year.

Actually, it is Dec 31st. Whatever the player's age is or will be on 12/31 is the minimum age classification in which she can participate in that calendar year.