BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Holdbacks

Sorry. He was listed as a 2021 at the 2016 Brine National Classic.

So was the alleged double holdback in question born before or after 9/1/03?

this is not correct at all. my son goes to public school and has many friends in his grade born from june to august who i know are not holdbacks. now, i have no idea if the parents did something pre 2nd grade (the year we moved to the town) but I am pretty sure that they were not thinking about holding back little johnny for a lax advantage in high school.

Yeah, those many friends are holdbacks. They may have been held back when they were young and for non-lax reasons, but they are potentially 12+ months older than kids they’re playing against based on grad year.

I’m not passing moral judgment on it - my son has an early fall bday so by random chance I never had to deal with this - but kids who were born in June but are in school with mostly kids born after 9/1 the same year or after are the definition of holdbacks.

The date is 9/1. Everyone knows it no matter how they try to spin it.

LOL, you don’t think the crazy lax families that have babies with mini lacrosse stick teething ring, would ever be thinking about their kid playing HS and College lacrosse and best path to do so?! Really??!! It’s mostly the parents dream … they are thinking about it as soon as little Johnny is born! Especially in states like MD! Lol, so don’t be so sure if it’s not being done pre 2nd grade! Lol

How would the world change if it was 8/1 or 10/1? The bottom line is that it's arbitrary and everyone should just chill out.

Can you holdback apologist at least get it right occasionally. Prefirst is a holdback no matter how you spin it or call them. The reasons do not matter, frankly any parent should do what they think is right for their childs education.

According to you and others like you, If I decided to let little jonny start school when he was 10, he technically wouldn't be a holdback when he played lacrosse with his grade. Of course he would 4-5 years older than the rest. LOL

And just imagine how easy it is when you just go birth year like soccer...AND EVERY OTHER YOUTH SPORT IN AMERICA!

Of course it is. Especially now with the explosion of holdbacks. Prefirst has a large class in most MIAA schools that offer K-12.

Please keep that quiet. Doesnt go well with many youth players parents from MIAA schools. Character Education is what they are about.

Of course they do!

You should use birth year, the entire year.
Jan 1 - December 31. So if you are born anytime in 2005 you are a 2024, etc.

That's not how it works. My son who was born spring 2005 is a 2023. He did not start school early, he is not playing up, he is on grade for his age and currently a junior in high school. Class of 2023 across the country is considered to be dob 9/1/2004 - 8/31/2005, give or take depending on exact cutoff for your state's public schools. Private schools move the goal posts to maintain a competitive edge. First it was having younger kids in the class (i.e. summer birthdays, especially boys) do a pre-K or pre-first year. Then affluent public school parents caught on and started doing the same thing, so private schools start holding back the spring and summer birthdays, and on it goes. Some of these kids then redshirt again before high school or by doing a PG year. To each his own, but parents should quit trying to normalize it to make themselves feel better. Most people understand the situation with kids who barely make the cutoff waiting a way to start K or 1st, but it's gone way beyond that. Sometimes kids do have opportunities to attend boarding school or do a gap year where redshirting makes sense, so not really fair to bash them all equally, but it is amazing seeing how much older many top rated lax players are than my own 2023.

Thank you for very clearly spelling that out for everyone! Private schools started all this by trying to gain an edge for their students. So true! It’s become a hot mess and it’s giving wealthy kids unfair advantages in the sport. It Should be addressed by the sport. Especially, as they say they are working to make it a more inclusive sport for all? It’s becoming more elitist everyday the way it is now.

"Should"

Birth year is easiest and is how many sports do it - including box in most cases.

The downside is that kids won't always get to play with their classmates.

Unfortunately Privates have been doing this for years. The only difference now then years ago, Lacrosse was age at youth and even by age for clubs. The Crabs years ago ( less than 10 years) had U15 and U13. Really good on age teams. No one really cared since youth was by age and HS was by grade. Frankly no one besides privates understood what I was talking about years ago when it came to prefirst .

Now with Clubs going grade, privates have upped the anti like the poster says above. All on age parents are saying WT?, how can this be fair at youth. And they are right.

Confirmed before 9/1/03.

Have no idea, but if he was born before that, he is one overage player for his grade. Summer 03 kids are in college now. WOW

I have no issue with all kids born in 2005 play together, those born in 2006 play together, etc. Other sports do it and you're right, it's simpler. It does mean kids don't always play with their classmates, which I think parents care about more than their kids. It does not make a kid like mine a 2024, however, unless he is held back. Supposedly college coaches just can't manage if there are a mixture of grad years on a team...which is an excuse because they seemed to figure it out just fine for the 2022s still "playing up" with their 2021 team, for example.

That's how it was when my oldest played - U13 and U15. He was younger for his age and had some private school kids on his team born within a month of him but a grade below. Club required they play with their age back then. Couple of the kids "playing up" then took a PG year after high school. My oldest is about to get his degree and they are now 21 year old sophomores in college. They were able to decommit and trade up to better lax programs, so I guess it paid off. The best of the best stand out even against older kids, but other players get pushed out if they don't reclass. Won't change until college coaches stop rewarding it.

High school age “re-classing” and PG years, Is not going to change. It DOES get rewarded with more opportunities to play in college. However, it would be nice at the youth level, in the kids developing years if they were giving an even playing field. Younger kids are being pushed out by older kids on their youth teams/clubs. It Seems to be getting more and more prevalent and accepted. Need to change this to age based at the youth ages.

There is a 20 year old nfl player maybe your genes aren’t that great brotha

Did he go/finish college “brotha”? My genes say get yourself a good college education and that will serve you well in life! No matter when you graduate college 21. 22 , 23 and so on. A college degree is a college degree. No matter what age you achieve it!

USL is addressing this. Expect the change in the next 2 years. All youth events will be phased into birth year.

If aged based won’t the kid born in January have a huge advantage over the kid born in Dec? The claim that soccer has ir right does not have a girl or boy playing on an elite soccer club team!!

Lacrosse is an elitist sport! US Lacrosse does nothing to grow the sport and will not rectify this situation because they have no control.

Can someone answer this? Why are you required to have a US Lacrosse membership? I don’t want three of their useless magazines.

One of the reasons for your US Lacrosse membership is insurance purposes, to cover their sanctioned events in case of player injuries. Any injury that happens at one of their events is covered for two years under your US
lacrosse membership, all costs not covered by your regular health insurance.

They offer supplemental insurance. They also offer insurance to tournaments and youth programs. These programs are very profitable, a lot of breakage.
https://www.usalacrosse.com/usa-lacrosse-insurance-program

Dont you like the totally woke useless USL Mag. Used to be about the sport, now it must have its social issues of the day enlightening us.

Yes. The February kids have an advantage over the October kids.

But an 8 mos difference is better than the 18+ mos difference that can occur in lacrosse.

Wait until he is 9th grade. 18 months is nothing.

Are you trying to rationalize or build on the age discrepancy further? I can’t tell.

It very well may happen in hs.

It 100% SHOULDN'T be happening in youth lacrosse.

holdbacks negatively impact competition, growth, safety, and access. It's bad for the growth of the game. Period.

Good for the individual but bad for the group. Been covered so many times before on the forums. Would be great if there was a standard date set by a governing body and all abided by it. 8/1 or 9/1 of every year would be my choice to line up with the school year but whatever date would be fine. High school and college multi year competition is a red herring. What matters is development time before high school and there is an obvious advantage to be older during that time period.

Life isnt fair just get over it. I love watching my on age son run by these kids. It's funny because if you didnt know the kid was a holdback you'd be complaining that hes just better than your kid

Time to Make it fair In the developing years of youth lacrosse! Period.

Or group kids by 2 birth years. Like they used to do back in rec.
One year you're the old kid, the next year you're the young kid.
Kids have to come and go through the age group. Teams cant stick together. New coaches/teams each year. Cut down on the bs.

That, sir, is the most common sense idea put forward so far. And youth lax is no place for common sense.