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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Six month age groups

There is not a single negative to a six month age group. [/quote]

:roll:

Beyond Elementary school there isn't enough advantage to maintain the complexity. [/quote]

Its not complex. Its very very simple.

Annnndddd...there absolutely are reasons to do this beyond elementary considering puberty isn't done until the middle part of HS.

Next[/quote]

When you start combining teams, first to expand for 9v9 and then to 11v11 it is unnecessary. Dual age groups is excellent early on to make sure kids are learning the fundamentals in a more developmentally focused environment. But by middle school, frankly it is silly. Kids need to be placed based more on skill than age. We have gone round and round on this and the numbers just don't support dual age groups. The predictable size variance BASED on birth month can be thrown out the window. Genetics NOT birth month plays a greater role in size variance.

If you honestly think you could walk into a middle school and predict kids birth months with any accuracy based on size I have a bridge to sell you. You might not even be able to predict their birth year accurately in many cases.

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You didn't make a reasonable argument. Most of it is nonsense. 
[/quote]

By middle school size is more defined by individual genetics than birth month and a predictable linear growth chart through middle school.

What makes dual age groups useful in elementary school are it's obvious benefits but the predictability of implementing it properly. A kid born 10 months later than another kid will be predictably smaller at 7-8 years old.

By middle school that is all out the window because specific growth spurts as well as their intensity simply cannot be predicted in middle school based on birth month. If the intent is to have players of similar size grouped together it would fail miserably based on birth month in middle school. Do you understand this?[/quote]

It not just about size. The lazy analysis is why the debate continues to happen. This is about human development...physically, mentally and emotionally. A tall well developed 12 years, while may look like a 18 year old, but is still mentally a 12 year.  Why? Because physical and mental development do not go hand in hand. This is but one of 5,000 senerios.

I need you to understand this.....You should not filter kids out of a pipeline before they had a chance to develop as a human.

You see it is schools all the time. It is a FLAWED approach. Its proven to be wrong  [/quote]

1. The current approach has been not proven to be wrong. What has been proven is a level of systemic bias in player selection. But the player selections for these teams, which are at the professional level are rarely "wrong" based on you know, becoming professionals. In youth sports, when the metric of winning is used it has not proven to be wrong. A system that is less biased may still result in the same outcome.

2. Even if the current system has been proven "wrong" that doesn't mean your solution is right either. It hasn't been applied anywhere to draw a comparison either.

The inherent problem is bias and prediction long term how a players will develop and grow over time. But, at each stage, yearly selections, year after year, the selections, based on the actual information in front of the coaches is usually right. When there are mistakes, of which there are many, it is due to prejudice, bias, impatience and inexperience and the inequitable distribution of quality resources. B team kids get a B team coach and on down the line. The coaches are assigned these team to learn or based on their own coaching experience. That is the biggest fault in our system. The kids that need more specifically qualified coaches for their stage of development simply are not provided them and they fall further behind.[/quote]

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