BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Age and Reclassification. The good the bad the ugly!

Our advice would be to seriously review the criteria you are using to decide your child's future.

If that doesn't convince you holding back a second grader is wrong, why not put it all on your son? Encourage him to cut class, fail exams, become socially inept, and perhaps even have some behavioral issues with the teacher - and principal. That should do the trick.

Second, please learn the difference between dominate (a verb) and dominant (an adjective)? If you want to be snarky in a post, you have to at least make the effort to use the language properly.

Sometimes, I really wonder whether folks are visiting Colorado and then coming back on an overnight flight with some of these posts.

That is ridiculous. The number of kids that do not start kindergarten or repeat kindergarten are doing so because they are not ready emotionally, academically, physically or socially. The percentage of parents that are thinking about their kid being a D1 player some day are very small. Most parents spend many nights worrying about their kid not being on par with their peers, and you are going to say they are cheaters? The few that do think that holding their kid back at kindergarten for athletics will have other issues down the road, but like others have said- most sports require player passes with birth dates- so if they want to play hockey or baseball or another sport- they will play with their correct age. It would be smart for US Lacrosse to follow in their lead, but clearly there is a huge difference in someone repeating kindergarten or starting a year late, as opposed to parents holding their kid back in 8th or 9th grade.

I wonder how many of the accelerated programs in the LI schools are made up of the "older" student body for the grade. And how many are made up of the younger "sept -dec".

That may be true that he should be in 8th grade but unlike lacrosse when it comes to tournament play he has to play with kids that were born his same year. Wish US Lacrosse would adopt the same system. I believe that a large percentage of the NHL have birthdays in the first three months of their birth year.

The big difference between lacrosse and hockey is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, for hockey it is the NHL ant they base the draft on Birth year, for lacrosse it is NCAA D1 an they base recruiting on grades so it will never change - my son is a 2000 birth year 2018, I do not want him playing against 2000 birth year 2019's or 2020's because it will do nothing for him from a recruiting point of you,

Justify all you want. However you justify it, it all comes down to the same thing. People are trying to help their children. They want to give their child an advantage that will help them in some way.

it is all the same, kindergarden holdback, 9th grade reclass, PG year at prep and non medical redshirt in college.

It is all done to help the kid gain an advantage.

I can tell you categorically that "accelerated programs" and "academic holdbacks" are diametrically (SAT Word of the Day) opposing terms. In fact, you will more often find students "playing up" in accelerated academic settings. The difference of birth month within the academic calendar year is a non-issue.

If you have $$ and hire private tutors and trainers for your son, and send him to he best camps and training sessions that money can buy (and few of his peers can afford), is that a form of cheating similar to holding back? Is it an unfair advantage? I know families who have bought their sons a hundred or more private sessions at 60 bucks a pop with excellent college players. Is that fair, especially to those of us who cannot afford it?

My son is a very good 8th grader, but he may "lose" a college spot to a holdback. We live in VA near DC and the first three verbals from our area for 2017 are holdbacks. It is a little annoying but, as with love and war, all is fair when it comes to your children. My two cents.

BOTC has actually e-mailed our contacts here on Long Island and we have asked that this thread be passed along to our US Lacrosse peers as a lesson in what is really happening on the ground. Would it surprise you to hear that the Long Island organization responded within five minutes ... and the US Lacrosse organization ... well, let's just say we hope that they opened the e-mail.

Unc just goes a commit from Texas. 2017 who will be taking a PG. I think that should be a new low, unc taking an effective 8th grader....

I think this is a 2016 reclassifying to 2017??? can anyone confirm?

Oh, God, no!!!!! Now 8th graders are taking 2017 spots away from the precious Long Island boys! Be happy you have good delis and pizza...oh yeah, and Jones Beach

Oh, God, no!!!!! Now 8th graders are taking 2017 spots away from the precious Long Island boys! Be happy you have good delis and pizza...oh yeah, and Jones Beach

I read Outliers too. Malcolm Gladwell's fact on the NHL stats were contrived. Trust me, the birth months are random. It all evens out. Good athletes will rise to the top of the pack.

I have an idea - why don't we all rally to remove any kid that's better than ours because of cheating!!! Yeah, like those kids bigger and stronger and faster than ours because they had good training and that's not fair. Hey, while we're at it lets get rid of the two handed players because they are ambidextrious and THAT'S not fair. And finally, get rid of all the brainiacs because they all have the best tutors and isn't that cheating, too!

USL is reluctant to take a stand. The USL could do it in a minute if they wanted to. A calendar cut-off works in hockey universally. Why wouldn't it work in lacrosse?

This is a ridiculous post. No one is suggesting any of this. Just suggesting age based.

I dont care if kids are reclassified. My son has been playing up his whole career. In fact he got his offer because he went to a school camp and played up as a 7th grader against Varsity. He is actually small for his age. The reality is in college you have to play against older bigger faster stronger kids. Get used to it now and you will be much better off for the experience. In the meantime do lots of wall ball. The wall doesnt know your age.

I dont care if kids are reclassified. My son has been playing up his whole career. In fact he got his offer because he went to a school camp and played up as a 7th grader against Varsity. He is actually small for his age. The reality is in college you have to play against older bigger faster stronger kids. Get used to it now and you will be much better off for the experience. In the meantime do lots of wall ball. The wall doesnt know your age.

If your son, as a 7th grader, played against varsity players and earned a scholarship offer, than he is/was one of the top 1% players in the world at his age. You can not take the experiences of a kid this athletic and talented and use it as a guide for all kids in general. It would be like a lottery winner advocating that buying lottery tickets is a sound investment simply because it worked for him.

The large majority of youth players, even including many that play on high level travel teams, will not be able to compete adequately against older players, and as such, will not develop and not have fun.

Moreover, as someone else has said, there is a big difference between choosing to have your son play against older kids (because he is uniquely athletic and talented) vs having it forced upon someone who signed their kid up for a 2020 team, drove him 200 miles to a tournament, only to see him walk onto a field opposite a group of 15 year olds.

And please stop with the wall ball. Yes, tons of wall ball will make you a better player, but it will not affect a boy's inherent speed, athleticism, quickness and strength. For 99% of 7th graders, all the wall ball in the world will not make them competitive against varsity players. For most of them, tons of wall ball is necessary to simply make them competitive against elite kids their own age.

As for the analogy to college, the last I checked, no one is playing college until they are 18 (some may be 17 when they start college but they all should be at least 18 by the time the real games start). At this age, these individuals are essentially men, and can compete with 20 year olds. Telling a 12 or 13 year old to suck it up and play against older kids because they will have to play 20 year olds when they are 18 is just plain silly.

Thank you well said

The mere fact that your 7th grade son has a "career" spells volumes about you as a parent. Must be a blast in your house. Read about a guy by the name of Todd Marinovich and his "career" very eye opening.

I agree, also its almost never 50 percent. Its maybe 25 percent. Also rhe 100 people in the stands are mostly kids parents. Holding a kid back to play lacrosse. I don't get it. Then everytime your kid plays well, it sits in the back of your head, my son did well, but he is a yr older than everyone else. You can say you don't think about it, you can act like you don't think about it. But you do think about it. Its a legal thing to do, but it isn't the rite thing to do and everyone knows it.

Think you need to do a little more research. A four year college degree at a school that is not SUNY will cost $120,000 on average. You don't need to be a stud to get a 50% scholarship. My brother plays at a D2 school, was one of the better players on a not so good HS team, and pays $0 for his college education. He started playing travel lax in 5th grade, so that's 7 years of fees and showcases, so figure about $20,000. I would say that's a pretty good return on investment.

Now he also has a head on his shoulders and does well in school, so if you are one of the crazies who preaches lax all day all night, and your kid can't spell "cat", odds are you won't be getting that scholarship...