Its a terrible rule. If a parent wants to hold a kid back so they can mature and be the best they can should have the right to do so. The KHSAA shouldnt be telling parents whats in the best interest of their kids. Just another rule to try and enforce. Becoming the NCAA. Have yet to hear a valid aurgument against other than the broad its for athletic purposes.

 

Go ahead and hold them back. Let them play AAU, work out, do whatever the parent thinks they need. It is a redshirt year and not playing school sports is not that big a deal in a player's development. It really isn't in this day and age.

Every kindergarten boy in the mountains will be 8 years old from now on.

Every kindergarten boy in the mountains will be 8 years old from now on.

 

So many jokes a snarky smart aleck from Louisville could make with this one...

The comments made by Julian and the others in the article are simply stupid. People will hold their kids back before middle school. We held our daughter back in 1st grade. Nothing will be solved that they are saying will be solved. Nothing.

Go ahead and hold them back. Let them play AAU, work out, do whatever the parent thinks they need. It is a redshirt year and not playing school sports is not that big a deal in a player's development. It really isn't in this day and age.

 

I tend to agree.

Hold your kid back all you want. As others have stated, there are other avenues for your kid to play ball.

 

NKYMSAA has 6th, 7th, and 8th grade BBall. Your kid should only be permitted to play once in each grade, pretty simple.

In general, I’m in favor of this rule. But maybe it's too broad. Goes past detering the athletics-only holdback and now includes punishing kids held back on the advice of professional educators that feel the kid needs it for academics or social/emotional reasons. That group of kids will already be stigmatized by being held back, and it’s a shame they must lose something else (athletics) at a time when athletics team play and success could help them thru a tough spot. Wish the rule only applied to holdbacks requested by the parents without the educator’s endorsement.

IMO this rule will have very little impact on a parent's decision to have their child repeat a grade. So the kid can't play 7th grade basketball. He/she will play AAU. Can't play for the middle school football team for a year? Play for the non-school teams like we have in NKY.

 

If the sole reason for holding a child back is athletics parents are still going to make the decision for the long term without really any negative short-term implications.

I just realized that based on the age rule I would have been age eligible to play high school sports my sophomore year of college. That just doesn't seem right to me.

 

I would have been a month and a half from the cutoff.

I'm interested in how this holds up to challenges. It violates parents' Right of Privacy in a way because it punishes their parental decision. However, are sports a right or a privilege? As for the wording, it seems overbroad. It is never a good idea to eliminate a group w/ such a broad stroke. There is always a case-by-case analysis that needs to be done.

 

Some things to consider: A. How were grades prior to the hold back? B. What were the behavioral issues/concerns that required the student to repeat? C. What parental concerns required such a drastic decision?

 

I just hate to see the kids that were held back because of grades, or past behavioral issues kept from doing (in some cases) the thing that they are best at. I know dealing w/ my boys, that if we took sports away, their development would be stunted. It is the one thing that they excel at. School is a challenge and really gets them down on themselves.

I just realized that based on the age rule I would have been age eligible to play high school sports my sophomore year of college. That just doesn't seem right to me.

 

I would have been as well.

So many jokes a snarky smart aleck from Louisville could make with this one...

 

East side of Shelbyville. I'm closer to Frankfort than I am Louisville. The truth is the truth though. Am I wrong? Nearly every prominent freshman in the eastern/mountain area of the state is 16. I was a junior in high school when I was 16.

I don't like the control over Jr High! Can't play if they are held back for any reason? What if the kid needs to be held back for academic reasons? As one of the first posters in this thread stated, parents should know what is best for THEIR kid! People complain when the government over steps it's bounds and interferes too much in the decision making of responsible parents, but not here? We talk about how things such as alcohol, cigarettes and weed effect young bodies and minds, but not this?

 

I agree, parents are pressured to start their kids in school at an early age, by time they graduate HS they are only 17, some are still 16. Females mature faster than males but I wouldn't want any kid of mine starting real life and college under 18, even under 19, it would depend on how my child would have matured by then.

If you are held back for academic reasons you should not be able to play because you should be focusing on academics.

I think that if your kid ever needs to repeat a grade for academic reasons, you will know long before middle school. 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade is when kids are learning to read. After that they are reading to learn. Parents and educators that are really in tune to the child's development will know in the early grades if the child needs more time to solidify the basic skills.

 

Barring some kind of illness or accident that caused a student to miss a lot of school in a later grade, the primary grades make the most sense to repeat.