Anonymous
Post 05/20/2025 14:07     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


How is she going to be 5”8” when at 11 years old she’s like 4 feet tall?

Late bloomer. The girls who are tall are all well into puberty. She's not close yet.


I am a 5-10 female who went through puberty late. Just as an FYI the way this looked for me is I was relatively tall all during childhood and then during that phase when other girls had gone through puberty and I hadn't yet, I more just fit in with them. The girls who were their final height of 5-3 at age 11-12, I was their height too. For a couple years, I actually kind of blended in. However, I was not 4 -2. Then I sprouted and shot past all of them.



Same. My family’s girls have relatively late periods, from 14 to 16. My four sisters were all tall all through childhood and ended up 5’9”. I was short all through childhood, got my period at 14 and stayed short. Same with my cousins and now with our kids. It’s genetics with a few randos like myself.

It’s not typical for someone extremely short to grow 18” in a short time period as a teen. I can’t imagine the stretch marks.
Anonymous
Post 05/20/2025 14:00     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


Oh wow - NP and this is my daughter exactly. Exactly the same - she’s smallest, youngest in her class, will start HS at 13, and we hope to get her to swim and do some rec league stuff now (10, will be 10 at the start of 6th). Thank you for posting! I shouldn’t care but it is hard to take when other adults post repeatedly about ‘talent’ and ‘heart’ when their kids are far older, have hit puberty, and so forth. I just want DD to have fun and exercise, I’m not talking about competitive leagues or travel. There is a ton of overweening parental pride in families of other girls regarding athletics and it can be tough to hear.


Have you tried dance classes where the students are typically very thin and tiny, ballet anyway. Or high energy classes like hip hop, jazz, African dance classes. Cheerleading and gymnastics are perfect for petite girls. Middle school and high school can only have a handful of players in basketball, soccer, etc. Softball doesn’t really offer much in terms of exercise.
Anonymous
Post 05/20/2025 13:54     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


How is she going to be 5”8” when at 11 years old she’s like 4 feet tall?

Late bloomer. The girls who are tall are all well into puberty. She's not close yet.


My daughter was 5’5” when she got her period at 13. She grew a couple of inches after that. She’s just one person but she’s pretty typical.

Puberty at 13 or 14 is within normal limits. If the height you gave is accurate she isn’t even on the chart. Hopefully she’ll grow another 12” to make it to 5 feet not because it’s easier to navigate everything.
Anonymous
Post 05/20/2025 12:32     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Yeah I know a lot of taller women and girls and not a single one was as short as 4’2 at 11. Girls do not grow like that. They usually are very tall very young.

In fact the girls I know who went through puberty really late and were really small and immature/young looking all are significantly shorter than their parents height would indicate even post puberty - not sure why that is about bc boys often go the other way
Anonymous
Post 05/20/2025 09:28     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m talking about sports organized by grade not age (baseball/soccer are by age). How did your kids do in sports as they got older if they are in the bottom quarter of age for their grade?


What sports are organized by grade and not age that are played at a competitive level?

Basketball and hockey are also age-based. I guess Football is the only sport left where it's by grade...but of course, many kids re-class in 8th grade to be older in high school.


In our area
basketball (even select)
pop football
flag football
lacrosse

All more popular than soccer.


Other than actual football...once you decide to play competitively, LAX and basketball are organized by age. You don't play on a 9th grade AAU basketball team, you play on a 15U AAU basketball team.


In our state it’s by grade all the way through.


AAU is a national organization and it's still really age determinant. For the most part, they allow re-classed older kids to play at their grade level, even though they may be one year older.

So, an 18 year old junior can play on a 17u team which is the traditional age for HS juniors. There is a birthday cutoff so it doesn't get too crazy.

I don't understand any comment like "in our state"...because if you play at a very high level you are competing nationally.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 20:38     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


Oh wow - NP and this is my daughter exactly. Exactly the same - she’s smallest, youngest in her class, will start HS at 13, and we hope to get her to swim and do some rec league stuff now (10, will be 10 at the start of 6th). Thank you for posting! I shouldn’t care but it is hard to take when other adults post repeatedly about ‘talent’ and ‘heart’ when their kids are far older, have hit puberty, and so forth. I just want DD to have fun and exercise, I’m not talking about competitive leagues or travel. There is a ton of overweening parental pride in families of other girls regarding athletics and it can be tough to hear.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 20:33     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter. For many, they “play up” and are playing with kids a full year older anyway. For one of mine who is more athletically inclined, those few months don’t matter. By the time they get to HS they are all competing for the same spots.

For my other kid, those few months also don’t matter because all of the training in the world or even reclassing wouldn’t have helped.

Genetics, internal drive and natural ability and that overall combination are really what matters. Not a few months difference.


My kids are exactly the same as yours but I think many more are on the cusp and being older or younger for their grade can make a difference. I mean, there are studies that back this up.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 15:48     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


How is she going to be 5”8” when at 11 years old she’s like 4 feet tall?


This is the weirdest post I have ever read. An 11 year old who is 50 inches tall is not going to grow another 18 inches. It doesn't matter if you are tall parents.

Why does her pediatrician expect her to start puberty at 13 or 14? How would they have any idea?


NP: my DD was 4’5”-4’6” at age 11. Grew to be 5’8”. Late bloomer who didn’t get first period until she was 15. That said, we didn’t expect her to be any particular height nor did our pediatrician ever predict anything. Our pediatrician could obviously tell (at that age) that it would be awhile before puberty though. I mean, she weighed like 65lbs or something like that, with no signs of development.

So it doesn’t sound that off base to me. Sounds like she is just guessing about the height as parents tend to do. Her DD clearly has a lot of growing to do if she is barely 4ft tall.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 14:52     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


How is she going to be 5”8” when at 11 years old she’s like 4 feet tall?

Late bloomer. The girls who are tall are all well into puberty. She's not close yet.


I am a 5-10 female who went through puberty late. Just as an FYI the way this looked for me is I was relatively tall all during childhood and then during that phase when other girls had gone through puberty and I hadn't yet, I more just fit in with them. The girls who were their final height of 5-3 at age 11-12, I was their height too. For a couple years, I actually kind of blended in. However, I was not 4 -2. Then I sprouted and shot past all of them.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 14:48     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


How is she going to be 5”8” when at 11 years old she’s like 4 feet tall?


This is the weirdest post I have ever read. An 11 year old who is 50 inches tall is not going to grow another 18 inches. It doesn't matter if you are tall parents.

Why does her pediatrician expect her to start puberty at 13 or 14? How would they have any idea?
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 14:45     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


How is she going to be 5”8” when at 11 years old she’s like 4 feet tall?

Late bloomer. The girls who are tall are all well into puberty. She's not close yet.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 14:43     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
It’s never a good idea to be “young” for whatever. Sometimes it cannot be helped. Sometimes the alternatives are bad so you do what you must.

If you can start age appropriate to older, you do it whenever and wherever you can. Yes older kids will do better. They will be more physically and mentally mature that always is better.



Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 14:23     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:My kid is the youngest in her grade, small for her age (<10th percentile), and a late bloomer re puberty so she doesn't really stand a chance. She plays rec soccer and swims for fun.

She loved basketball as a sport, but the cutoff for the more competitive league is literally the day after her birthday, making her the absolute youngest and smallest. At 11 yo, that makes her 50" tall playing against kids who are 5'9" or even taller. She's roughly the same size as a tall third grader and the other players are adult sized. It's just not fun. When she first tried out a few years ago, her birthday being two days later and playing down a league would have made all the difference. But the late puberty probably would have pushed her to drop it by now anyways.

Just for reference re young for her grade, she'll be 13 for the beginning of freshman year of highschool. And her pediatrician expects her to start puberty as a 13-14 yo. We're not a short family so she'll likely end up around 5'8" but not for a long while.


How is she going to be 5”8” when at 11 years old she’s like 4 feet tall?
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 12:52     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m talking about sports organized by grade not age (baseball/soccer are by age). How did your kids do in sports as they got older if they are in the bottom quarter of age for their grade?


What sports are organized by grade and not age that are played at a competitive level?

Basketball and hockey are also age-based. I guess Football is the only sport left where it's by grade...but of course, many kids re-class in 8th grade to be older in high school.


Football is age. We had to show id at weigh in when my kid played youth in VA. It wasn’t by grade.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2025 12:45     Subject: How did your young for the grade kids do in grade level sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m talking about sports organized by grade not age (baseball/soccer are by age). How did your kids do in sports as they got older if they are in the bottom quarter of age for their grade?


What sports are organized by grade and not age that are played at a competitive level?

Basketball and hockey are also age-based. I guess Football is the only sport left where it's by grade...but of course, many kids re-class in 8th grade to be older in high school.


In our area
basketball (even select)
pop football
flag football
lacrosse

All more popular than soccer.


Other than actual football...once you decide to play competitively, LAX and basketball are organized by age. You don't play on a 9th grade AAU basketball team, you play on a 15U AAU basketball team.


In our state it’s by grade all the way through.