True/False: Is it pathetic for a parent of a hs athlete..

Churchillin said:

Musta really wanted you out of the house.

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pretty much...

both my boys have June birthdays so I guess I could hold them back. No chance though, I'm not "that parent" that wants to live through my kids via sports. They'll have to suck it up, and always be a tad younger than their classmates.

theboardref said:

to let their child be held back just to 'further develop' athletically? This being if a child has the grades to move on but intentionally not moving up a grade.

I say true. Think it is absolutely apauling to allow this. A child making straight A's and being held back for athletics (I have seen this first hand). A school down the road actually brags about having 'true freshman'. This practice is embarrassing, congrats on your two years held back child on making all state.

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Potato salad.


Being held back 1 year isn't going to give you a big leg up in HS sports. elementary yes, but not high school. Plenty of talented sophs and juniors out there

theboardref said:

to let their child be held back just to 'further develop' athletically? This being if a child has the grades to move on but intentionally not moving up a grade.

I say true. Think it is absolutely apauling to allow this. A child making straight A's and being held back for athletics (I have seen this first hand). A school down the road actually brags about having 'true freshman'. This practice is embarrassing, congrats on your two years held back child on making all state.

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cerealboi said:

Think there was a Real Sports about this . . . also it apparently works. See Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers and the section about Canadian youth hockey. Kids born around the time of the youth hockey cut off ended up doing better in hockey and advancing further because their increased maturity and additional practice made them stand out from their peers. The additional maturity/skills gets them special attention from the coaches and which gets them additional practice and coaching which in turn makes them better than their peers.

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For professionals?

I would think it hurts them a little in that sense since they're not true age. Like some of these college kids who are like 20 year old freshman or sophs.

I would understand this only for football really.

Developing a little bit more physically at that age before playing might make some sense. But that might be more about just safety than any athletic prowess.

Lance Armstrong said:

both my boys have June birthdays so I guess I could hold them back. No chance though, I'm not "that parent" that wants to live through my kids via sports. They'll have to suck it up, and always be a tad younger than their classmates.

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I'm not sure about your link between wanting to give your kids a leg up in sports and living through your kids via sports.


Its also something that could lead to your kid getting a scholarship somewhere and saving your a shit ton of money on tuition. I still think its a little silly, but I see why some people might choose to go that route without thinking that some parents are trying to re-live their childhood through their kids.

Lance Armstrong said:

both my boys have June birthdays so I guess I could hold them back. No chance though, I'm not "that parent" that wants to live through my kids via sports. They'll have to suck it up, and always be a tad younger than their classmates.

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Me too...birfday in 3 days.

I did two years of kindergarten

Roy Munson said:

I'm not sure about your link between wanting to give your kids a leg up in sports and living through your kids via sports.


Its also something that could lead to your kid getting a scholarship somewhere and saving your a shit ton of money on tuition. I still think its a little silly, but I see why some people might choose to go that route without thinking that some parents are trying to re-live their childhood through their kids.

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Giving them a leg up by keeping them out of school is ridiculous, and is about as backwards of thinking as it gets. Of course its the parents living through their kids, you think a 5yr old says "hey dad, keep me out of school so I can abuse little kids on the court".

Lance Armstrong said:

Giving them a leg up by keeping them out of school is ridiculous, and is about as backwards of thinking as it gets. Of course its the parents living through their kids, you think a 5yr old says "hey dad, keep me out of school so I can abuse little kids on the court".

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because 5 year olds should decide when they go to school.

Roy Munson said:

because 5 year olds should decide when they go to school.

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That's when you'd hold them back, right before kindergarten. Unless you're a real POS parent and wait until they're already in school.

Lance Armstrong said:

That's when you'd hold them back, right before kindergarten. Unless you're a real POS parent and wait until they're already in school.

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yeah, but it isn't up to them...

Roy Munson said:

yeah, but it isn't up to them...

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yeah, that was my point.

Lance Armstrong said:

yeah, that was my point.

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and it shouldn't be... They're 5 year olds. If I want their opinion, I'll give it to them.

Lance Armstrong said:

That's when you'd hold them back, right before kindergarten. Unless you're a real POS parent and wait until they're already in school.

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the other one is repeating 8th grade.

006 said:

It's lame to hold them back if they are already enrolled in school. I have no issues with parents not sending their kids to kindergarten until they turn 6 though, especially if they have a summer or spring birthday that would automatically make them the youngest kids int their grade.

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Sometimes you don't get to choose. My middle child had a mid-August birthday, when we moved to Indiana, cut off for school was Aug 1. So she had to repeat kindergarten...she was not happy about it at the time, but I think it worked out fine. She wound up doing dual enrollment in high school and graduated from college when she was 21, so I think it worked out fine.

Rolltide94 said:

Sometimes you don't get to choose. My middle child had a mid-August birthday, when we moved to Indiana, cut off for school was Aug 1. So she had to repeat kindergarten...she was not happy about it at the time, but I think it worked out fine. She wound up doing dual enrollment in high school and graduated from college when she was 21, so I think it worked out fine.

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Yeah I think that was the right call by you/school system. I have no issue with holding your children back for social, maturity, educational reasons. I just feel like holding them back for athletic reasons is a little uncle ricoish.

006 said:

Yeah I think that was the right call by you/school system. I have no issue with holding your children back for social, maturity, educational reasons. I just feel like holding them back for athletic reasons is a little uncle ricoish.

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I agree. That being said...my daughter was the North Florida 100m champ.

I coached Boys and girls baseball, softball, basketball and football for 40 years.

Basketball is the worst when dealing with age vs school grade.

What we're seeing on a more regular basis, is parents not allowing boys to start kindergarten until they are 7 or even 8 years old. Why? Because dad was never a really good athlete and he never made the starting team in any sport. Sometimes he never made the team at all. But his son will.

Basketball (until very recently) and football (Which is changing) have primarily been grade based. For the uneducated, it may not seem to be a big deal but once a boy reaches 12 years old, it makes a huge difference.
Imagine you have a 10 year old son playing Pop Warner football on a team with 95% percent 10 year old 5th graders. They're all about 4-1/2 feet tall and maybe 60 lbs. They all head out on the field to face another 5th grade team only these kids are all 12 year old 5th graders who are mostly 5'-6' feet tall and weigh in at 100-125 lbs. How do you feel about your kid playing football now?

OR.........Your son is 13 years old and playing AAU basketball at the 8th grade level. He's 5'8" and 1450 lbs. Really good sized for his age and he plays the 5 (Center). He goes out on the court with his team who are all legitimate 13-14 year old 8th graders and has to face a team of 15-16 year old 8th graders. Some of whom are 6'5" 220 lbs. ??

The AAU is now pissing off hundreds of inner city and city coaches who've been talking parents into delaying the start of school for their kids so they can be better ball players and possibly get a full scholarship when they graduate from high school........what they're not telling them is that colleges are seeing more and more first year players leave college and head for the NBA and they don't want any mature 20 or 21 year old freshmen.

Holding a kid back for year because he did poorly in his freshman year of high school probably isn't a bad thing, especially if the kid realizes that he needs to work harder and puts forth a better effort and makes the honor roll the second time around. Here's the caveat.........if your kid played freshman football and basketball and you choose to hold him back, some state educational system considers him a sophomore unless he failed all four major courses (math, English, social studies, science) and was required to repeat.

Hold backs are a major problem for sports across the country whether high school or AAU. Most are starting to deal with it correctly and the only guys who are getting penalized are the crooked coaches. Just wait til these guys start falsifying birth certificates and the kids want to drive at 17 but their birth certificate says their 12.

Yes. It is pathetic.

Iowa AAU wrestling stopped that when a kid was held back in 8th grade a 2nd year because he (TJ Sebolt) was not big enough for high school. A kid from my alma mater was a 7th grader wrestling and he wrestled Sebolt in the finals Sebolt's 2nd 8th grade year and lost. AAU changed the rule right away that a wrestler is only eligible once for each grade. Sebolt went on to be a 4x HS state champion. He was booed when he won his 4th.