If you redshirted your kids, do they get bored in grade level sports?

[Anonymous]

Especially when they are younger, do they feel bored and like it’s not competitive enough in grade level sports if they are always the oldest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Especially when they are younger, do they feel bored and like it’s not competitive enough in grade level sports if they are always the oldest?

This is a moot point in my area because all sports- rec, club, you name it- is based on birth year instead of grade, until middle school sports.

Instead I hear complaints that little Larlo “has to play with third graders all the time and it’s hard for him to fit in” when Larlo should actually be in third grade to start with.

[Anonymous]

Not even slightly, but then my kid is not particularly athletic. For what it’s worth, I’ve never heard other parents complaining about this.

[Anonymous]

I don't see how this would matter. Some of the ones we've been involved with have been very recreational and not competitive with mixed grade teams like 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th so there are already a mix of ages. People who want more serious competition play club, travel, etc which aren't by grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Especially when they are younger, do they feel bored and like it’s not competitive enough in grade level sports if they are always the oldest?

This is a moot point in my area because all sports- rec, club, you name it- is based on birth year instead of grade, until middle school sports.

Instead I hear complaints that little Larlo “has to play with third graders all the time and it’s hard for him to fit in” when Larlo should actually be in third grade to start with.

This is not always the case. Our basketball league is based on grade. We can see the birthdates of the kids on my sons team, two of the 5th graders are within a week or 2 of the 6th grader on the team. And one of the 6th graders is 2010 birthday that could be in 7th grade. Volleyball is by grade in our area as well.

Soccer seems to be the sport that is most consistent about assigning teams based on birth year. Baseball seems to have 2-3 year year groupings, at least our league allows kids to play up so we have kids who are young on the team as well as kids who are a few years older.

It seems to benefit some of the kids, there are a few kids who were redshirted and are way taller then their year mates, but there are some kids who were late September birthdays who were redshirted and are shorter then their year mates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how this would matter. Some of the ones we've been involved with have been very recreational and not competitive with mixed grade teams like 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th so there are already a mix of ages. People who want more serious competition play club, travel, etc which aren't by grade.

My son is on a mixed grade 1/2 basketball team but mostly
first and one summer 2nd. He’s in first with a July ‘16 birthday. They sent us a roster of the kids we are playing on Sunday with their birthdates/school and there are 2 kids with Jan/Feb 2013 birthdays. I just wondered if the kids complained being 9 and playing mostly 6/7 year olds. It seems like it wouldn’t be challenging at all. There aren’t club sports at this age.

[Anonymous]

You can't tell in advance I guess. Some are and some aren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how this would matter. Some of the ones we've been involved with have been very recreational and not competitive with mixed grade teams like 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th so there are already a mix of ages. People who want more serious competition play club, travel, etc which aren't by grade.

My son is on a mixed grade 1/2 basketball team but mostly
first and one summer 2nd. He’s in first with a July ‘16 birthday. They sent us a roster of the kids we are playing on Sunday with their birthdates/school and there are 2 kids with Jan/Feb 2013 birthdays. I just wondered if the kids complained being 9 and playing mostly 6/7 year olds. It seems like it wouldn’t be challenging at all. There aren’t club sports at this age.

When I see age spans like that, sometimes its because siblings are involved. 2 brothers end up on the same team even if one is a little older or younger because it's just easier for the parents. Shrug. Whatever. Your kid will only get better playing with bigger and older kids. We had 2 kindergarteners on our 1st/2nd soccer team in fall b/c their older brothers were on the team. We got clobbered by the 2nd grade teams as we were mostly 1st graders and 2 kindergartners. Nobody cared much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Especially when they are younger, do they feel bored and like it’s not competitive enough in grade level sports if they are always the oldest?

This is a moot point in my area because all sports- rec, club, you name it- is based on birth year instead of grade, until middle school sports.

Instead I hear complaints that little Larlo “has to play with third graders all the time and it’s hard for him to fit in” when Larlo should actually be in third grade to start with.

This is not always the case. Our basketball league is based on grade. We can see the birthdates of the kids on my sons team, two of the 5th graders are within a week or 2 of the 6th grader on the team. And one of the 6th graders is 2010 birthday that could be in 7th grade. Volleyball is by grade in our area as well.

Soccer seems to be the sport that is most consistent about assigning teams based on birth year. Baseball seems to have 2-3 year year groupings, at least our league allows kids to play up so we have kids who are young on the team as well as kids who are a few years older.

It seems to benefit some of the kids, there are a few kids who were redshirted and are way taller then their year mates, but there are some kids who were late September birthdays who were redshirted and are shorter then their year mates.

For basketball, you redshirt for school but play up when you can for AAU. Even with redshirting, AAU has limits, i.e. for 8th grade, an athlete must be in the 8th grade or below as of October 1, 2022 and can be no older than 15 on or before August 31, 2023

[Anonymous]

they would need to be particularly athletic as well as the oldest for that to happen. It seems there will always be one or two prodigies who will be the best in a given sport despite not being the oldest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:they would need to be particularly athletic as well as the oldest for that to happen. It seems there will always be one or two prodigies who will be the best in a given sport despite not being the oldest

Even with a 3 year gap?
You’d have be pretty bad to be beat by a 6 year old if you’re 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how this would matter. Some of the ones we've been involved with have been very recreational and not competitive with mixed grade teams like 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th so there are already a mix of ages. People who want more serious competition play club, travel, etc which aren't by grade.

My son is on a mixed grade 1/2 basketball team but mostly
first and one summer 2nd. He’s in first with a July ‘16 birthday. They sent us a roster of the kids we are playing on Sunday with their birthdates/school and there are 2 kids with Jan/Feb 2013 birthdays. I just wondered if the kids complained being 9 and playing mostly 6/7 year olds. It seems like it wouldn’t be challenging at all. There aren’t club sports at this age.

That is well beyond red-shirting. A red-shirt first grader is likely to be born in Summer 2015. Even a red-shirt second grader would usually be Summer 2014 right now (or maybe a few months earlier). These kids are well beyond being classified as red-shirt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they would need to be particularly athletic as well as the oldest for that to happen. It seems there will always be one or two prodigies who will be the best in a given sport despite not being the oldest

Even with a 3 year gap?
You’d have be pretty bad to be beat by a 6 year old if you’re 9.

It's team sports. Not everyone is 9 and not everyone is 6.

[Anonymous]

NP. My kid was unintentionally redshirted for a few years because of a move. He was not bored. He liked sports no matter what.

All the truly competitive sports are club and by birth year anyhow, except for football. School is just for fun.

[Anonymous]

Why is this league sending out all the kids personal information on their roster? That's weird for 1st and 2nd grade.