Reply to Divisionals really shows why the unfair birthday rule matters

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]On our team, in the younger ages, most of the divisionals swimmers were swimming in the “wrong” age group.  11 year olds swimming as 9/10. 9 year olds swimming as 8&under. In the older kids, many of those dominating came back from college to swim a final year.

This rule was literally cooked up in a back room by the parents of summer birthday kids. It should be done away with. We follow USA Swimming rules for everything else. We should for aging up as well. [/quote]

I was curious if this is even true. So lets look at the NVSL results for divisional in the top 3 divisions for boys 9/10

Division 1 Freestyle: 4/12 are 9 years old. 9 year old placed 2nd
Division 2 Freestyle: 5/12 are 9 years old. 9 year olds placed 2nd, 3rd, and 5th
Division 3 Freestyle: 3/12 are 9 years old. 9 year old finished 3rd

Division 1 Backstroke: 4/12 are 9 years old. 9 yard old finished 1st!
Division 2 Backstroke: 4/12 are 9 years old. 9 year old finished 2nd and 4th
Division 3 Backstroke: 2/12 are 9 years old. 9 year old finished 2nd

Division 1 Breaststroke: 4/12 are 9 year olds
Division 2 Breaststroke: 7/12 are 9 years old. 9 year olds finished 1st, 3rd, 6th!
Division 3 Breaststroke: 1/12 is 9 years old

Division 1 Fly: 3/12 are 9 years old. 9 year old finished 5th
Division 2 Fly: 5/12 are 9 years old. 9 year olds finished 1st and 5th!
Division 3 Fly: 5/12 are 9 years old. 9 year old finished 1st!

Division 1 IM: 6/12 are 9 years old. 9 year olds finished 1st and 3rd!
Division 2 IM: 7/12 are 9 years old. 9 year olds finished 1st, 3rd, and 5th!
Division 3 IM: 3/12 are 9 years old. 9 year old finished 3rd

Doesn't seem like "over age" (which is not the right term anyway) are dominating 9/10 boys. 9 year olds won 4/15 events.

Seems like this is a non issue.[/quote]

Not sure this assessment is completely accurate. Looking at the 9 year olds (a few of whom are actually 10, but are considered 9 because of the summer cutoff), these kids are actually swimming in the RIGHT age group. What would be a better assessment is looking at the 10 year olds in the 9-10 age group, some of which are actually competing when their true age is 11.

An example of this is looking at club swimmers who do long course over the summer (which makes you swim your true age). There are some club swimmers whose times are just okay, but are impressive for summer league because of the age advantage.[/quote]

You completely missed the point. Those 9 year olds (even if they are now 10) are not "over age" by your wacky definition. But they still did well in divisionals. You originally claimed that divisionals was dominated by over age kids. It clearly is not because 9 year olds won quite a few events in the top 3 divisions and placed in the top 6 in many others.[/quote]

Current age of top 2 All-Star seeds from NVSL Divisionals, by event as determined by USAS databases.  In most cases, it's the oldest of the best swimmers who get the glory.

8&u boys - 25 Free
1(t). 9.1
1(t). 8.9

8&u boys - 25 Back
1. 8.7
2. 9.1

8&u boys - 25 Breast
1. unknown
2. unknown

8&u boys - 25 Fly
1. 8.1
2. unknown

10&u boys - 50 Free
1. 10.9
2. 11.0

10&u boys - 50 Back
1. 10.7
2. 10.9

10&u boys - 50 Breast
1. 11.0
2. 11.0

10&u boys - 25 Fly
1. 10.9
2. 10.3

10&u boys - 100 IM
1. 11.1
2. 10.7 
[/quote]

[b]I think the fact that all those kids show up in USAS is a sign that the actual unfair advantage comes from kids who swim club.[/b]

15/18 kids have that unfair advantage.  Maybe we should ban them.[/quote]

Yes, that’s what is so laughable about this entire thread. The random kid with the June birthday that only swims during the summer in the RECREATIONAL league is not the kid with the unfair advantage, it’s the kid swimming 3-5 days per week the other 47 weeks of the year!

I did not complain that all the kids ahead of mine at divisionals were crazy fast and seeded in the top 10/top 20 in the 12U championships. I thought it was amazing my kid who swims only in the summer could keep pace fairly well and outswam their seed and placed higher than they should have. They were  really proud of that as well. 
[/quote]

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