So we held our son back before going into middle school. It was not for athletics. He was young for his age (late summer birthday). He went to a private Christian school and was always the youngest in his class (was subject to bullying) . All his friends from LL that lived nearby all were in a grade lower than him and attended the local public school. Wife and I could tell he was not comfortable at his school so we talked about holding him back a year and transferring him to the local public school to repeat the 6th grade. We asked our son if he was okay with this and he said he was. This extra year made the world of difference for my son as far as maturity and confidence. This was the best thing we could have ever done for him. He had a great MS and HS experience both academically, socially and athletically.