Is this normal? older kids

[Anonymous]

We just got the roster for my son’s select lax team for 2033 (4th grade) and he’s a March on time kid born in 2015. He’s the only spring or summer kid.

16 other children and not a single kid born after January of the school year. Every single kid is a redshirted kid born between March 2014 to August 2014 or early in the school year September to December 2014. Have you noticed the same thing with lax? It is good he made it but this seems odd that it’s all older children.

[Anonymous]

2033s are SO messed up.

My DD is at a run of the mill private school. It had a small amount of kids who were already doing a year of 5s preschool before the pandemic. Then the school announced that it would run preschool completely in-person in fall 2020 since it was exempt from our state lockdown rules because it was childcare. Any kid who had a spring or summer 2015 bday and was even vaguely eligible for more preschool stayed in preschool so the parents didn’t have to do zoom kindergarten. And some kids repeated K because they lost 3 months of it the first time.

My DD is an April birthday and until 3rd grade and some OOS transfers she was the youngest in her grade!!! She has classmates who were born in January 2014!

Her sport is gymnastics and there is a weird gap for girls in her grade. Many kids missed the chance to start pre-competitive programs “on time” so she has a lot of kids at her level who are 2032s and a year older. A handful are a year younger and moved from areas that had less restrictions (so they didn’t lose 6 months of opportunity and get stuck on waitlists), but there are few her age.

[Anonymous]

(I should add that save for college recruiting and elite eligibility, age doesn’t matter much for gymnasts because meets usually take every kid at a specific competitive level and divide them by birthdate into even size groups for judging. So for some meets she might be in a group that spans 2 years of birthdays but for other meets it might be just girls born between January 2015 and May 2015.)

[Anonymous]

Might get more feedback on the lacrosse forum.

It is a true thing in sports that kids between September and December get shafted when using a December 31 cut-off (which one of the big governing bodies in my kids' sport still does, though they are pretty much all moving to August 31 to align with grades better).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Might get more feedback on the lacrosse forum.

It is a true thing in sports that kids between September and December get shafted when using a December 31 cut-off (which one of the big governing bodies in my kids' sport still does, though they are pretty much all moving to August 31 to align with grades better).

Are you talking about soccer?
It’s surprising people can’t see how the August 31 cut off which is the norm for all grade level sports is tough for any kids who went on time to school that fall late in the school year. My child is grade level June and that’s a horrible month for sports. It’s still in the second half for soccer too so not really an advantage for anything. If you’re a Sep to Dec birthday you have a great birthday for school sports or grade level sports.

[Anonymous]

And which sports are moving to Aug 31 cut off?

[Anonymous]

It's normal for lax since they do grade cutoffs.

[Anonymous]

I'd think that the current class of 4th graders has a huge amount of red shirted kids because that grade was starting Kindergarten in virtual school. So anyone who had an inkling to hold their kid back, did so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's normal for lax since they do grade cutoffs.

How is it normal to have 1 kid between January to August? That’s 8 months of the year. It leans super heavy for a much older team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And which sports are moving to Aug 31 cut off?

AAC basketball has an Aug 31 cutoff.

I think soccer is discussing switching to a school year cut off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Might get more feedback on the lacrosse forum.

It is a true thing in sports that kids between September and December get shafted when using a December 31 cut-off (which one of the big governing bodies in my kids' sport still does, though they are pretty much all moving to August 31 to align with grades better).

Are you talking about soccer?
It’s surprising people can’t see how the August 31 cut off which is the norm for all grade level sports is tough for any kids who went on time to school that fall late in the school year. My child is grade level June and that’s a horrible month for sports. It’s still in the second half for soccer too so not really an advantage for anything. If you’re a Sep to Dec birthday you have a great birthday for school sports or grade level sports.

Softball. 2 of 4 big governing bodies have already switched, 1 is rumored to be switching next year (and that one is the one that most impacts us), and the last is stubbornly holding out (but it doesn't at all impact us).

It won't help my kid for school because she started on time in that funny FCPS September window. Academically it was the right choice, but athletically it's an extra challenge.

[Anonymous]

I’m not familiar with lacrosse birthdate cutoffs, but if this is a tryout based team, yes it is common for them to take older kids. In every sport. Kids with “good birthdays” have an advantage.

[Anonymous]

This helps prior to puberty only

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This helps prior to puberty only

Isn't it still an advantage after puberty? You would hit puberty earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And which sports are moving to Aug 31 cut off?

AAC basketball has an Aug 31 cutoff.

I think soccer is discussing switching to a school year cut off.

Why though? The same kids already have a good advantage when it is grade based. I think moving to a system that all redshirted birthdays have an advantage is really rough on the kids born in the spring. As I said my son is the only kid in an 8 month span to make the team. Multiple kids are 18 months older than a kid who may have tried out against them with a summer birthday.