Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a 10 year old having to swim in the 11-12 age group be less of an issue than a 13 year old?

Exactly. But the poster who brings this up every year has a kid with a May birthday so it'd make her feel better?

Exactly.

Age group swimming ends quickly. Enjoy it while it lasts. My kid relished the wins when they knew they beat kids who was older than them. They also relished victories when they won at the bottom of the bracket (so 13 or 11).

And most of these kids swim winter league where age at meet is enforced.

All of this made them better able to race as a high school kid when they had to compete against kids 4 years older.

Anonymous wrote:Why would a 10 year old having to swim in the 11-12 age group be less of an issue than a 13 year old?

Exactly. But the poster who brings this up every year has a kid with a May birthday so it'd make her feel better?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still don't see why having an August 1st cutoff date is a non starter? Wouldn't that solve this entire debate?

No it would just change the groups of kids advantaged and disadvantaged.

Well, it would change it though. It would make it so all the kids are in the actual age bracket throughout the swim season. So no 13 year olds swimming in 11-12 races. Yes, some kids would still have an advantage, but it would make it so all kids were in the right ages?

You do understand that you'd then have kids who are 8 competing in the 9-10 age group under your rule, right? Explain how that is different/better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For winter swim they use your age as of the start of the meet. It’s crazy that a kid who turns 11 Friday night can still swim with the 10u group Saturday and Sunday. That is totally unfair. We need to know the time of day every kid was born so we can group them appropriately on their birthdays.

You should only ever swim against someone who was born within 24 hours of you.

24 hours? That could be the difference between 2013 and 2014 if you were born at new years. Keep it within one hour.

You summer birthday swimmers should’ve done travel baseball. You’d be among the oldest on the team, as travel has May-April groupings. So my April kid is almost always the youngest and is playing against (and with) kids who were born May the previous birth year.

OP, if the 11-12 age group bothers you, wait until you’re in the 13-14 group and some of the boys have gone through puberty and others haven’t. Some are 5 feet tall and some are 6 feet. And nobody’s going to correct for that to make it “fair.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a 10 year old having to swim in the 11-12 age group be less of an issue than a 13 year old?

Because it doesn’t negatively affect OP’s kid so therefore it’s fine

Bingo!

Omfg. No matter where you draw the line, there will be a line.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a 10 year old having to swim in the 11-12 age group be less of an issue than a 13 year old?

Because it doesn’t negatively affect OP’s kid so therefore it’s fine

Exactly!

Anonymous wrote:Why would a 10 year old having to swim in the 11-12 age group be less of an issue than a 13 year old?

Because it doesn’t negatively affect OP’s kid so therefore it’s fine

Anonymous wrote:I still don't see why having an August 1st cutoff date is a non starter? Wouldn't that solve this entire debate?

No, because they’d you have kids younger than the age bracket being forced to swim up. A 12 year old with a July 29 birthday would have to swim the whole season in the 13-14 bracket.

Why would a 10 year old having to swim in the 11-12 age group be less of an issue than a 13 year old?

Anonymous wrote:I still don't see why having an August 1st cutoff date is a non starter? Wouldn't that solve this entire debate?

It's not a non-starter. But you can't start it here. Get it on the agenda for NVSL rule changes for next season. (And let it go here...)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still don't see why having an August 1st cutoff date is a non starter? Wouldn't that solve this entire debate?

No it would just change the groups of kids advantaged and disadvantaged.

Well, it would change it though. It would make it so all the kids are in the actual age bracket throughout the swim season. So no 13 year olds swimming in 11-12 races. Yes, some kids would still have an advantage, but it would make it so all kids were in the right ages?

The right age is the age that falls into the range set by the league. The league has set a range for this year's 11 - 12 group that is birthdays from June 2 2010 to June 1 2012. That is the "right age". Those kids are in the "actual age bracket". Accusing people of cheating when they are following the rules, is really horrid behavior. No one wants those people or their children on the team. No one wants to reward their behavior by making changes to a reasonable easily understood rule.

So, while it wouldn't make a difference to me and my family if the cut off was June 1 or Aug. 1 (and I say this as the parent of 2 kids born in July who would show up and compete just the same), making a change because of bully spoilsports would be 100% the wrong choice for summer swim.