Keep him back or let him play on?

If a kid starts school early and maintains his grades but excels on the field should you keep him back a year to put him in a better postion for high school ball? And if so in what grade do you keep him back?

 

I think if you should agree between you and your spouse to keep him back, do it early in elementary school. If they excel of the field I dont really see a reason to hold them back. It can be good pyshically for them if they are held back a year because that means one more year of learning and maturing than everybody else. If a kid has a learning problem then you can give them another year to learn and grow. I am sayign all this because I fit into this role. I was held back my second grade year because of a learning disability and it gave me another year to grow and learn which payed off fo me.

But if your son/daughter excels on and off the field, then there is really no reason to hold you son/daughter back.

 

Hold him back. We started our son early August B-day. Good ball player. Here is his problem. People see him play they love him. Hustle and full of fire. He has gotten some looks. But with his size and age it seems to hold him back some. Not to say another year would make him a gaint but A couple of inches now would not hurt. I know that a lot have said size is not a big deal. Trust me let him grow the body and mind. It helps. Be ready a friend of mine has do that with his but he had to put him into private school to do it. Public schools will not after such an age or unless they have an LD problem.

 

A lot of parents in a certain area has held back their kids in the eight grade. After the 8th grade they send the kid to a private school for one year and then enter them back in the high school in the 9th grade the following year. This has worked out for a number of kids. Because after their Junior year (should have been senior year) they really excel against other players on their team as well as the competition. This has given them an edge on the competition making a DII or lower DI player into a high caliber DI player.
It's hard to hold back an "A" student that's why we didn't do this with our kid. But it sure would have helped a tremendous amount if we would have.

 

Kindergarten. After that 5th grade then 8th or 9th grade. Hard to do middle school twice.

 

Boy, this is a personal and touchy subject. I know the 8th grade is the final year of holding back a child without affecting athletic eligibility.

I know of some families that have done so with all of their boys. And it has resulted in all 5 boys gaining scholarships for college.

But personally, I don't like it at all. If it is done it should be done in their early grade school years. It should be because the child is not quite mature socially or academically for their grade. Holding them back has proven to help many in those areas.

But for those that wait until their 8th grade class and do it for athletic reasons just doesn't seem right.....but oh well. I'll get over it.

 

I think it should be done at a really age to prevent them from getting seperated from their social peers later. Around the 2nd or 3rd grade is the time to do it because they don't have personal friendships with many people yet and their peers wont think of them any different. Doing it in 8th grade can cause some social poblems for them because of getting seperated from their friends.

IMO, the only reason to hold a kid back is for academic development. But if he is undersized at an ealy age then for physical growth, elementary should be the cut off for holding a kid back.

 

Braves, after kindergarten/1st grade I don't believe in it either but I was just answering the question. Easy to do early. hard to do in middle school and early HS. Socially it's tough plus you should have some kid of idea what kind of athlete the kid may become by 8th grade.

 

I agree.

A friend of mine was a very successful HS football coach. He had 5 sons that each he kept back in the 8th grade. As they got older they were mentally and physically more mature than most. It worked for all of them.

I don't want to become too judgemental about this, but all of the crazy things some parents will do to try to gain an athletic scholarship for their child, this is one that can be the most harmful (emotionally and socially)....and without any guarantees.

 

if you do it in early high school you will lose a year of eligibilty. once you start high school you only have 4 years to participate. IF you are going to do this for athletic reasons, it needs to be done before they enter high school