Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

This again makes the point that there will always be disadvantaged kids under every cut-off.

USATF summer youth track doubles the fun: Dec 31 cutoffs AND dual age divisions. A 12 year old with a December birthday gets to race against eighth graders who turned 14 back in January.

I understand they combine age groups so the meets don’t last eight hours, but you’d think they could score them separately.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel baseball is a May-April grouping. My son with an April 30 birthday is the youngest and plays on teams with kids with May birthdays from the previous year.

So if you have a late spring/summer birthday, your kid will be one of the older ones on the team.

Ours is National LL and August 31 cut off. Is your kid going to have issues when he gets to school/grade based teams in high and all his peers have been playing in an older and more competitive division?

PP here. My kid plays with his graduating class. He is a current 15u player- he's a freshman and will turn 15 in April 2025. He has a kid on his team who is a sophomore and will be 16 in May 2025.

I know a couple of kids who play in their correct travel group but not with their graduating class. They're on their HS team and don't have problems facing their peers at all- each has a different reason for playing correct travel age but not graduating age (but again, my son doesn't fall in this category).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

This again makes the point that there will always be disadvantaged kids under every cut-off.

I think this is the ONLY thing kids with summer birthdays on time have any sort of advantage for. Hardly comparable when 90% of the sports are grade based or Dec 1 based and you still fall in the middle/second half. Summer on time birthday kids are at a clear disadvantage for sports.

Baseball. Having a May - Aug birthday is a huge advantage in baseball

Plus, the summer birthdays get the advantage, if they red-shirted, when they get to HS.

Its not surprising that any freshman that is starting on our JV football team turned 15 before the school year started.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

This again makes the point that there will always be disadvantaged kids under every cut-off.

I think this is the ONLY thing kids with summer birthdays on time have any sort of advantage for. Hardly comparable when 90% of the sports are grade based or Dec 1 based and you still fall in the middle/second half. Summer on time birthday kids are at a clear disadvantage for sports.

Baseball. Having a May - Aug birthday is a huge advantage in baseball

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel baseball is a May-April grouping. My son with an April 30 birthday is the youngest and plays on teams with kids with May birthdays from the previous year.

So if you have a late spring/summer birthday, your kid will be one of the older ones on the team.

Ours is National LL and August 31 cut off. Is your kid going to have issues when he gets to school/grade based teams in high and all his peers have been playing in an older and more competitive division?

PP said the kid is the youngest.

My kid (softball) will fall under what you are talking about. Early September birthday, youngest in her class, so by grade would be a year up compared to what she'd be by August 31 cut-off. That means would play a year down - if staying with age - compared to August and earlier birthday peers in class. Our options are assume she can keep up with the competition but don't actually try it, play her up, or (not happening) hold her back in school.

The corner cases and endless discussion are what leads me to think there's always going to be winners and losers no matter what you pick. I can see why sports are starting to go with whatever's easier for the recruiting college coaches.

Anonymous wrote:Travel baseball is a May-April grouping. My son with an April 30 birthday is the youngest and plays on teams with kids with May birthdays from the previous year.

So if you have a late spring/summer birthday, your kid will be one of the older ones on the team.

Ours is National LL and August 31 cut off. Is your kid going to have issues when he gets to school/grade based teams in high and all his peers have been playing in an older and more competitive division?

Travel baseball is a May-April grouping. My son with an April 30 birthday is the youngest and plays on teams with kids with May birthdays from the previous year.

So if you have a late spring/summer birthday, your kid will be one of the older ones on the team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

This again makes the point that there will always be disadvantaged kids under every cut-off.

I think this is the ONLY thing kids with summer birthdays on time have any sort of advantage for. Hardly comparable when 90% of the sports are grade based or Dec 1 based and you still fall in the middle/second half. Summer on time birthday kids are at a clear disadvantage for sports.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

Summer swim is 1 noncompetitive sport that is a tiny window for a few years in elementary school. I don't see this as any kind of advantage.

Tell that to the insane NVSL higher division pools.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

Summer swim is 1 noncompetitive sport that is a tiny window for a few years in elementary school. I don't see this as any kind of advantage.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

This again makes the point that there will always be disadvantaged kids under every cut-off.

I have a kid with an Aug 30 birthday who went to school on time. On top of that, she's a late bloomer for puberty and small for her age. It's a really tough combo for a kid who is naturally competitive.

Of course, a huge portion of the board will say that it's totally unfair that summer swim uses a June cutoff. She is totally unfairly advantaged.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This helps prior to puberty only

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

It won’t matter for long. My kid doesn’t play lax but hit puberty a while ago, as did all his friends now that they are around 17. It doesn’t matter now who had the early growth spurts. It’s back to working hard, athleticism and genetics. They have all grown and filled out. I guess it would matter for the super late bloomers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Softball PP here. There are always going to be some shafted kids. Under a December 31 cut-off it's September-December, and an August 31 cut-off it's May-August.

Our sport moved because college coaches wanted them to.

Not if everything shifts to Aug 31 cutoff, in particular the Dec 31 ones.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Softball PP here. There are always going to be some shafted kids. Under a December 31 cut-off it's September-December, and an August 31 cut-off it's May-August.

Our sport moved because college coaches wanted them to.