All studies show that is better to hold boys back before the 6th grade due to maturity issues. Girls mature much more quickly than boys. By having a boy start school later or holding him back if also allows for him to handle the pressures and social anxieties of middle school and high school. Also, more research states that boys who graduate H.S. when late 18 or 19 are more prepared for college or to 'Go away" to school.

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Bo sounds like a heck of a student (which is the most important thing anyway) but by age I think he would be considered a year behind. Anytime you are going to be 18 before your senior year in high school starts I think you have to be considered a year behind. Thoughts?

 

My daugter will be starting college at 17, its work out well for her. I do think if I would have started her late she would have had even more chances at other schools exp for softball seeing they recruit or start the recruiting process when most kids are freshman. I wish I was half as smart as the parents that held their kid back or started them late and its not just for athletics, would feel better if she was pushing 19 rather 18 when she moved away for college. It would help with her in school also, gets good grades and works hard at it but doesn't pull in the high text scores. I think another year would help with that also.

All studies show that is better to hold boys back before the 6th grade due to maturity issues. Girls mature much more quickly than boys. By having a boy start school later or holding him back if also allows for him to handle the pressures and social anxieties of middle school and high school. Also, more research states that boys who graduate H.S. when late 18 or 19 are more prepared for college or to 'Go away" to school.

 

Please be careful with blanket statements such as, "all studies show that...." In this case, it is not quite so. While several studies suggest that retention, a.k.a. holding a student back, can improve students' standardized test scores, some of the same studies indicate that hold-back students tend to drop out of high school at a higher rate than those who are not held back. Questions have also emerged regarding other factors and whether they might have as much to do with a student's success as the retention itself. For instance, it is not clear whether hold-back students who succeed do so solely because they were held back, or whether the socioeconomic groups that tend to practice voluntary retention also do several other things that produce successful students.

 

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, but research on this topic is ongoing and a clear answer hasn't emerged yet. In the meantime, I think we all agree that holding a student back for the sake of athletics is a different matter than doing it for the sake of academics or emotional maturity.

Interesting, so his AAU team must be based on year in school and not age?

AAU has to be based on age. Always has. There's plenty of freshmen who are 16, seniors who are 18 due to being held back

The average age of high school students (in the United States) at graduation is 18.

Anytime you are going to be 18 before your senior year in high school starts I think you have to be considered a year behind. Thoughts?

Depends on the state you live in when you start kindergarten.

Born June 30, 1994 in Indiana. In 1999 the kindergarten cut-off date in Indiana was June 1, so not ALLOWED to go.

Fast forward, turned 18 on June 30 before senior year, and will be 19 heading into college.

No hold backs, no repeats, the "right" age for grade in Indiana, but a year ahead of classmates in Kentucky.

AAU has to be based on age. Always has. There's plenty of freshmen who are 16, seniors who are 18 due to being held back

 

Grade first then age cut off.

AAU has to be based on age. Always has. There's plenty of freshmen who are 16, seniors who are 18 due to being held back

 

AAU teams are allowed to have 3 exception players on their roster. For instance, if they play 16U they can be older kids (who have been held back for whatever reason) provided that they are in the appropriate grade level for that age group. These exception players must provide documentation from the school to be eligible. So, it is possible to have an 18 year old (or up to 3) playing 16U AAU provided his class listing is that of a sophomore.

AAU teams are allowed to have 3 exception players on their roster. For instance, if they play 16U they can be older kids (who have been held back for whatever reason) provided that they are in the appropriate grade level for that age group. These exception players must provide documentation from the school to be eligible. So, it is possible to have an 18 year old (or up to 3) playing 16U AAU provided his class listing is that of a sophomore.

 

All of the official AAU materials that I have seen in the last 6 months, for everything from the nationally sanctioned tournaments to the local regional qualifiers, are grade based and provide an age cutoff, mirroring essentially the school age rule wherein you are eligible to compete in a certain grade as long as you do not turn 19 before August 1 of your senior year. That is, to play in an AAU sanctioned event as a 5th grader, you cannot turn 12 before August 1, as a 6th grader you cannot turn 13 before August 1, as a 9th grader 16 before August 1, etc. I will post the official rules in a moment....

My daughter has an August birthday, we waited to start her. She will turn 18 the first part of her senior year. Our son is 4 and has a late June birthday. We are going to wait as well with him. He will be 18 before he starts his senior year. I would rather them be a little older than younger. I started my senior year at 16 and turned 17 in October. It sucked always being the youngest and smallest until HS.

AAU has to be based on age. Always has. There's plenty of freshmen who are 16, seniors who are 18 due to being held back

 

AAU is grade based, not age based. Cutoff if August 31.

 

http://image.aausports.org/dnn/girlsbasketball/EligiblityRules.pdf

AAU is grade based, not age based. Cutoff if August 31.

 

http://image.aausports.org/dnn/girlsbasketball/EligiblityRules.pdf

Plus the 3 grade excepions. AAU had discussions recently about changing the cutoff to July 31 and it was shot down and remains that Aug. 31 date.

Plus the 3 grade excepions. AAU had discussions recently about changing the cutoff to July 31 and it was shot down and remains that Aug. 31 date.

 

It is my understanding that there is not a limit of 3 anymore.

It is my understanding that there is not a limit of 3 anymore.

Once you get to a certain age group there is not. In the lower grades there definitely is. Prevents a 7th grade team from having a bunch of holdbacks.