Reply to Late calendar year birthdays - deciding which age group to play in

Forum Index » Soccer

Reply to "Late calendar year birthdays - deciding which age group to play in"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is it better for U13/U14/U15 boys with 4th quarter birthdays (Oct-Dec) that are doing well right now to stay in their current age group or move down/repeat the year? These boys already have a relative age disadvantage that becomes more prominent with the new Aug 1 year. However, moving down may make them more dominant out of the gate, which might not be as beneficial for long-term development.

What is the consensus on this?[/quote]

There is no consensus. It doesn't apply to my children, but we know kids who want to stay with their current team and kids who want to repeat the year. It seems kids are deciding based on who the coaches are, the relative strength of the teams, and whether they want to stay on a team with friends or try out a new team.

I do think some parents are pushing their kids to try to stay on their current team just so they can say their kid is playing up. If their kid does well, then it's even more bragging rights for them. If the kid doesn't do well, it's "well look how much smaller and younger they are than everyone else" -- a built in excuse. These are the parents whose ego matters more than what is best for the kid. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics