I've been following club lacrosse for almost 10 years and this argument has been going on the entire time. Almost every kid outside of NY is a year older than the NY club teams. I sent my son to a New England prep school and he repeated 9th grade as he had a late-ish birthdate and the coach at that school said he wouldn't take him as a direct grade transfer. It was one of the best decisions we could've made and he is very prepared for college, academically, physically and maturity-wise. Of his incoming freshman college recruiting class, which is at a top 10 ranked program, 11 out of the 12 kids would fall under the NY definition of being a "holdback". Almost every single athlete at NE boarding schools is a full year older than NY public schools and in some cases, two years older. This issue will never go away and the reality is that college coaches don't care. Look at Connor Shellenberger who is at UVA. He went to two different private schools and then redshirted his freshman year, and then became a first team AA as a freshman. Public school kids in NY are at a clear disadvantage vs. other states where it is super easy to reclass at the private schools. The NE boarding schools all have strong financial aid programs so even if you don't have the financial resources to pursue a PG year there are options to help pay for it. If your son is a NY public school kid I would highly recommend a PG year if they want to play top level college lacrosse, there's virtually zero downside risk to doing it. At the younger ages it's definitely a safety issue but once you reach high school it's not that big of a deal in my opinion.