Red shirting for sports- Is this really a thing for older kids?
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Anonymous
No, it's works all the time. I know a boy who repeated 8th grade and just started at Princeton (baseball commit), class of 2023. Several others who repeated a grade and just committed to Penn, Duke, and Cornell for lacrosse , class of 2024. It happens all the time for lacrosse. These kids aren't bad athletes. They're very good but getting an additional edge for Ivy level recruiting. The ivies and similar take almost only reclassed kids for lacrosse (kids who did one grade twice). it's not my kids but it's very, very common |
Anonymous
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I personally know one very high level basketball player who reclassed in 7th grade. Jury’s still out if it will pay off for college but clearly he will play somewhere.
A question though- don’t colleges look and say well, of course he’s good because he’s playing against properly aged kids who are almost two years younger than he is? |
Anonymous
If you have to ask these questions it’s clear you have no idea how any of this works. So why are you asking? |
Anonymous
It happens here in public too. A boy at the end of 8th grade can be much bigger physically a year later. We know someone who technically homeschooled for the year after 8th then reenrolled back in 9th. Public school. They delayed 9th grade by one year. Academics and quickly advancing through subjects aren’t the priority for everyone, contrary to what you read on DCUM. The sports parents are every bit as crazy and will delay classes to give their kid an advantage. |
Anonymous
That’s…precisely why I’m asking. I have no idea how it works so I’m asking to be educated. |
Anonymous
Do you have a son interested in a particular sport? Or are you just asking so you can tell everyone what a stupid idea you think it is? I doubt your sincerity. |
Anonymous
| Why dont all youth sports teams place kids on teams based on age, then this wouldn't happen. |
Anonymous
Many do, to a point. And then it becomes by graduation year. What would be the incentive to change this? Sports teams don't have a problem with this. Only some parents of unathletic kids do. |
Anonymous
Never mind. I’ll just ask the dad of the kid I know; he’s very nice and will be happy to explain to me without getting defensive. I don’t care if you reclass your kid. My child isn’t a high level athlete who would ever find himself in a similar situation. Good luck with your kid’s athletic future- I hope they play for the college of their dreams. |
Anonymous
| My son is very borderline as far as birthday goes. He has a late Sept birthday. He was K at 4, did totally fine, in fact very advanced. We moved to a different district over the summer with a Sept 1 cutoff. We decided it would be better for him socially and emotionally to be one of the older vs the youngest. We supplement a lot at home, so the academics not be challenging doesn’t really matter. He doesn’t play school sports- so that doesn’t matter. I guess what I’m saying is there are may reasons besides academics why someone would redshirt. You just don’t know |
Anonymous
Why would colleges care? They want the best athletes that make them they lost money |
Anonymous
They do - largely - though for some sports it is common to have a 2 year spread - think little league baseball for example. Lots of youth sports with many participants are one year age groups. Soccer, for instance, goes by age as of 1/1. Kids can play “up”, and often do, so as to play with kids in their graduation year if they are young for their grade. But, they cannot play “down” to play with younger kids. But, college sports are recruited based on when you graduate from high school. You can’t start college until you graduate high school. Many (all?) States have a max age limit for high school sports participation of 19 as of the start of the school year. However, College Coaches don’t care how old you are when you arrive on campus. So, for example, it is fairly common to have athletes from overseas showing up as 20 or 21 year old freshmen. For hockey it pretty much has always been a question of playing Juniors first, and if it looks like you aren’t getting signed to play pro, then you look at playing in college so there are lots of 20/21 year old freshmen. There certainly is no age max to start college. |
Anonymous
Because for many sports, before club became big, the primary way kids were playing was varsity, and since that's connected to school it becomes connected to grade. |
Anonymous
Thanks for proving the point that you're an insincere douchebag! |
Anonymous
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Happens all the time in baseball--it's now called "reclassifying." Boys usually repeat 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, and thus are physically larger and stronger than their peers. Plus, the extra year of maturity doesn't hurt in the classroom, especially for high school!
One of our coaches asked us if we would consider having our son reclassify (i.e., repeat 8th grade at a private school). He did not, in large part because school always comes first, but given that he's a young 9th grader, sometimes I wonder if we should have done it for the executive function alone! |