"From a baseball perspective, a majority of programs throughout New England have a number of reclassified players on their returning 2021 rosters. In a recent poll taken, the average percentage of reclassified student-athletes participating in New England prep school baseball programs is between 35-50 percent, with some schools conceding higher averages."
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I'm not from New England, but from my experience this isn't anything new. COVID seems to have just put it in overdrive.
I see A LOT of reclassification in NJ especially because of the allowed gap year now in the state. But it's not 1 of 2 or 1 of 3. At best I would guess that it's 1 of 5 or less frequent.
I don’t have access to the article. But the school in the picture and those tagged at the bottom of what can be seen of the article are NEPSAC’s (New England Private School Athletic Conference). I attended one for a year. Due to the academic rigor at most of these schools they’re known for reclassifying incoming students even if they aren’t athletes. It was the case then and is still the case now.
Freshman year I experienced the high school version of what college athletes are facing now. I was the 14/15yo competing against 18/19yo. I succeeded there in academics and sports. I just hated the boarding school experience and returned to public school. Outside the athletes (many of them local day student commuters) the school was full of spoiled, arrogant rich kid boarders (of course one only stays at the Plaza when in Manhattan). Given at the time freshman year was 9th grade in junior high athletically the varsity experience was a plus.
When I told the English headmaster I was leaving after a year he told me my downfall in life would be I was too interested in sports and girls. I nearly bit through my lip holding back before I busted out laughing in his face.
Just a reminder about reclassifying - Any athlete who reclassifies after starting 9th grade needs to remember that they must earn their 16 core courses for NCAA Division I eligibility by the end of the 4th year after they begin 9th grade. An athlete needing two more courses in that extra 5th year of HS to achieve 16 won't be classified as a Qualifier for NCAA D1 freshman eligibility.
@Rick at Informed Athlete posted:Just a reminder about reclassifying - Any athlete who reclassifies after starting 9th grade needs to remember that they must earn their 16 core courses for NCAA Division I eligibility by the end of the 4th year after they begin 9th grade. An athlete needing two more courses in that extra 5th year of HS to achieve 16 won't be classified as a Qualifier for NCAA D1 freshman eligibility.
How would this rule apply to kids who repeat 9th grade when they reclassify upon entry to a private school? Which 9th grade year would count as “entering 9th grade?”
The first time that a student starts 9th grade would be the determining factor.
The way I see it happen quite often is the kid transfers and repeats 8th grade. To be honest, I kind of always wondered why 8th grade but never cared enough to ask...
Before COVID-19, I would see this a lot. Kid attending public school would then repeat the 8th grade in a private school and start High School a year older than he would normally. It was the clean standard and didn't mess with any High School eligibility.
But now I see kids reclassing in High School. Maybe they move from one state to another and go public to private? We know one kid who did it.
We know another kid who was a 2022. Went from public to private after the summer of 2020 and reclassified to a 2023. But he was injured in 2021 and now supposedly is reclassing again to be a 2024. No idea how that is possible but that's the rumor. Sad part is the kid is very smart and there's no academic reason for repeating grades.
In Texas everyone reclassified . My kiddo is in 9th grade at 14 but kids are 15/16 years because of reclassification in 8th grade. It’s so normal here. They do it for athletes a lot. To me it is strange! They graduate high school at 19 🤷♀️! Kinda cheating the system but hey anything for a little advantage. I guessssssss
@RJM posted:I don’t have access to the article. But the school in the picture and those tagged at the bottom of what can be seen of the article are NEPSAC’s (New England Private School Athletic Conference). I attended one for a year. Due to the academic rigor at most of these schools they’re known for reclassifying incoming students even if they aren’t athletes. It was the case then and is still the case now.
Freshman year I experienced the high school version of what college athletes are facing now. I was the 14/15yo competing against 18/19yo. I succeeded there in academics and sports. I just hated the boarding school experience and returned to public school. Outside the athletes (many of them local day student commuters) the school was full of spoiled, arrogant rich kid boarders (of course one only stays at the Plaza when in Manhattan). Given at the time freshman year was 9th grade in junior high athletically the varsity experience was a plus.
When I told the English headmaster I was leaving after a year he told me my downfall in life would be I was too interested in sports and girls. I nearly bit through my lip holding back before I busted out laughing in his face.
@smokeminside - I would like to see a poem entitled "Thirteen ways of looking at RJM". Could you work something up?
@IAmThatGuy posted:@smokeminside - I would like to see a poem entitled "Thirteen ways of looking at RJM". Could you work something up?
I’m an enigma. 😀
when my son started talking to one school, one of the first questions the recruiter asked was whether he was a true-aged 2023. He seemed pleased that my son had not reclassed. i guess it matters to some degree, at least to some recruiters and schools
That's interesting. I've heard of other coaches encouraging their top recruits to re-class or take a gap year. Even the Ivy schools are in on it. There are a handful of 2020 kids that I've seen enroll as freshman this fall.
@NY posted:In Texas everyone reclassified . My kiddo is in 9th grade at 14 but kids are 15/16 years because of reclassification in 8th grade. It’s so normal here. They do it for athletes a lot. To me it is strange! They graduate high school at 19 🤷♀️! Kinda cheating the system but hey anything for a little advantage. I guessssssss
Back in the days, we called them ringers.
Here seeing a lot of kids that re-classed, many because of Covid, and either went to an academy or are sitting around for a year. Most of the high schools won't allow you to re-class.
@NY posted:In Texas everyone reclassified . My kiddo is in 9th grade at 14 but kids are 15/16 years because of reclassification in 8th grade. It’s so normal here. They do it for athletes a lot. To me it is strange! They graduate high school at 19 🤷♀️! Kinda cheating the system but hey anything for a little advantage. I guessssssss
It’s a lot of redshirt kindergarten. My 2nd son started on time (Feb birthday) and almost every kid in his class is a year older. As an 8th grader he is definitely one of the smaller kids. He was on the line in football and one of the smallest. Hoping he keeps playing until he grows. He was opposite 78 (and the equivalent) every game. When he told me the kids were 6 foot tall and 185-190 in 7th grade I thought he was exaggerating….
@baseballhs posted:It’s a lot of redshirt kindergarten. My 2nd son started on time (Feb birthday) and almost every kid in his class is a year older. As an 8th grader he is definitely one of the smaller kids. He was on the line in football and one of the smallest. Hoping he keeps playing until he grows. He was opposite 78 (and the equivalent) every game. When he told me the kids were 6 foot tall and 185-190 in 7th grade I thought he was exaggerating….
I heard parents are considering redshirting their preschoolers
I suspect baseballhs's comment about redshirt kindergarten was taken as a joke, but it is absolutely not. I have no clue about the general population, but among youth travel ball players the majority of kids are being held back a year. All you have to do is check out the rosters of the top teams on PG. My players missed the school cut off by only two weeks and should among the oldest in his class, but he is likey in the 25th percentile. In a couple years most players will be 19 for there entire senior year, there will be alot of 20 yr olds playing in the spring. Reclassing as you folks are defining it is likely a moot point moving forward as the majority of kids have already been held back.
@314Calhoun posted:I suspect baseballhs's comment about redshirt kindergarten was taken as a joke, but it is absolutely not. I have no clue about the general population, but among youth travel ball players the majority of kids are being held back a year. All you have to do is check out the rosters of the top teams on PG. My players missed the school cut off by only two weeks and should among the oldest in his class, but he is likey in the 25th percentile. In a couple years most players will be 19 for there entire senior year, there will be alot of 20 yr olds playing in the spring. Reclassing as you folks are defining it is likely a moot point moving forward as the majority of kids have already been held back.
Yes. In my town, it is SOP to hold boys back pre-Kindergarten if birthdays are late spring or after. Then if needed the most common theme is for kids to leave the public high schools after Junior year and re-class at a private high school (Back to jr year again) if needed for athletics or academics. Thus the 19.5 - 20 year old Freshman.
@314Calhoun posted:I suspect baseballhs's comment about redshirt kindergarten was taken as a joke, but it is absolutely not. I have no clue about the general population, but among youth travel ball players the majority of kids are being held back a year. All you have to do is check out the rosters of the top teams on PG. My players missed the school cut off by only two weeks and should among the oldest in his class, but he is likey in the 25th percentile. In a couple years most players will be 19 for there entire senior year, there will be alot of 20 yr olds playing in the spring. Reclassing as you folks are defining it is likely a moot point moving forward as the majority of kids have already been held back.
Reclassification is not a new phenomena, just something that is a result of unforeseen events and actions taken by organizations to provide somewhat fair solutions.
Note, what we define as fair depends on the stakeholder that is being impacted.
Note, the annual High School state participation numbers for baseball are 550k, if we assume an annual attrition of 20% graduates, then the simple estimate is 110k pool of available HS players.
You can use the CBI State Participation Insights to look specifically at your state to understand where players normally go.
Understand there have been changes post covid, you can get a feel of the trends.
Note, we've upload 2021 Fall Rosters (will show as 2022) for you to see how things are playing out
There are some other insights College Baseball Overview Insights that can assist you with your family's college recruiting journey.
Note, this is not the end all be all, but it will provide a perspective of how schools are doing the roster management.
@CollegebaseballInsights posted:Reclassification is not a new phenomena, just something that is a result of unforeseen events and actions taken by organizations to provide somewhat fair solutions.
Note, what we define as fair depends on the stakeholder that is being impacted.
Note, the annual High School state participation numbers for baseball are 550k, if we assume an annual attrition of 20% graduates, then the simple estimate is 110k pool of available HS players.
You can use the CBI State Participation Insights to look specifically at your state to understand where players normally go.
Understand there have been changes post covid, you can get a feel of the trends.
Note, we've upload 2021 Fall Rosters (will show as 2022) for you to see how things are playing out
There are some other insights College Baseball Overview Insights that can assist you with your family's college recruiting journey.
Note, this is not the end all be all, but it will provide a perspective of how schools are doing the roster management.
I undertand that reclassing is not a new thing. My point was that I believe that a significantly larger portion of the player population was already kindergarten redshirted and therefore I don't see those players being able to reclass in high school or after 8th grade. Malcolm Galdwell's Outliers book came out shortly after and before the generation of players that I am talking about were born. I remember seeing a segment about it on 60 minutes. Sure there always was and always will be those manipulative and conniving parents who want to negotiate their kids odds, but I believe that the popularity of that book spread to more parents who otherwise may not have previously even considered the kindergarten redshirt. The kids reclassing now were already in kindergarten by the time Outliers was wildly popular.
@314Calhoun posted:I undertand that reclassing is not a new thing. My point was that I believe that a significantly larger portion of the player population was already kindergarten redshirted and therefore I don't see those players being able to reclass in high school or after 8th grade. Malcolm Galdwell's Outliers book came out shortly after and before the generation of players that I am talking about were born. I remember seeing a segment about it on 60 minutes. Sure there always was and always will be those manipulative and conniving parents who want to negotiate their kids odds, but I believe that the popularity of that book spread to more parents who otherwise may not have previously even considered the kindergarten redshirt. The kids reclassing now were already in kindergarten by the time Outliers was wildly popular.
I've read the Outliers, I agree.
Reclassification is the new normal, Covid-19 has exacerbated the issue.
