Parental Hold-back year.. NCAA rule???

More or less fact but the terminology wasn't right.

Most state associations limit how many years of varsity competition a player can participate in, and the NCAA requires prospective student-athletes to complete their core curriculum requirements not later than the high school graduation date of the class with which they entered ninth grade.

HUH?  Sorry, new to this world.  Who said the 6th grader needs to be held back?  What does this have to do with NCAA rules?  If your kid is in 6th grade how did anything to do with the NCAA even come up already....why do I always feel like I am behind.

Please tell me that you're not asking this because you feel like holding your kid back will help him athletically in the future. 

I’m going to be the a-hole here….

Wow, you’re really worried about holding back a 6^th grader on the 1% (yep go look it up) chance that your son may play college ball and then be redshirted.  Based on the number of 11Us playing LL alone only 1% of them go on to play in college ball.  If you start to factor in all the 11Us across the country playing travel, PONY, etc. I would guess its less then 1%.

Right now the only thing you should be worried about is enjoying your kid playing baseball.  I can tell you from experience I had the stud 11 YO in the area.  Kids  were scared to step in the box against him, he was walked about 40% of his ABs as no one wanted to give up the HR to him.  Fast-forward to 2014 and his sophomore year in HS.  He is still a very good player and is starting to garner some interest from some colleges but everyone else is closing the gap. 

Fortunately for my wife and I we remained grounded, as did our son.  My wife works in a field that requires her to have a very solid understanding of childhood development and we were able to keep perspective.   You will have no idea how good of a player your son is until at least their freshman year in HS.   Some will argue moving to the big field is the difference but there is still a lot of growing to be done between 15 and 17/18U.

There is no reason to hold a child back on the off chance he may actually play in college.  Unless a kid is struggling academically or socially you may very well do more harm then good to them by holding them back. 

The idea of holding a kid back athletically comes up from time to time.  Some parents think by holding back a kid they provide them with an edge as they are physically more mature then the others thus giving them a leg up when it comes to college recruiting.

Maybe an advantage for college recruiting, but not for the draft.  See interesting story on one family's decision to have their son skip his junior year:

http://www.letstalkbaseball.li...he-wolforth-decision

So, why are you considering holding your 11U kid back?

1. Youngest in his class;

2. Maturity level in young men in general; and

3. Smaller frame child from smaller frame parents.

If you were in our school system you would be laughed out of the building if you attempted to hold your child back for sports reasons. if you were really worried about his age/maturity you would have started him in K/1st grade later. Let's not pretend your on a baseball website asking about NCAA rules for an 11 yr old for any reason other than holding him back in hopes he can have one more yr to develop. 

Crazy idea.

by the way, your son can burn out in a few yrs and not want to  play anymore, I see it all the time. Be prepared in case it happens. Please find something more productive to do with your time then considering messing with your child's education over sports. 

My son has a May birthday. He was 5' in 6th grade. It was obvious he was a late physical bloomer given my height, his mother's height and his sister was a late bloomer who grew to be 5'10". Given he was a top student I figured if there might be a benefit to being held back a year for athletic reasons it would be on the back end. If another year would have made a difference I would have sent him to a post graduate school for a year between high school and college. By junior year he was 6'1". Staying back would have been a waste of time.

Arbitrary (but required I suppose) age cut-offs are found in all sports.  Early on it makes sense to have kids play among kids with same abilities.  But as Malcolm Gladwell points out so well (book Outliers) in relation to Canadian hockey, older (and hence physically more mature) kids in the same year/grade/age group will be pushed along to better and more elite teams---an unforeseen advantage for being born just after the cut off date.  I don't think that plays as much in the U.S., especially in baseball.

The most important ?

how does your son do academically?  You did not mention that he was struggling.

if you have him repeat a yr when he does not need to academically, he will be behind his friends and know it's for sports.  Most kids repeat a grade in elem. school if they need extra time, not in a Middle school. 

Sorry, it's wrong on so many levels. 

We were clueless that our son would play in college when he entered kindergarten.He has a Sept birthday, but we felt he was ready. He was also always a well adjusted student who did well in school most years.  By the time he got to be a sophomore in college we realized many of the freshman were older than he was. Many of them started school late with sports in mind. We were told several times over the years we should hold him back. I never saw a good reason to hold him back. He had good grades and lots of friends. 

My son is now a senior in college and still playing baseball, two others in his class are still playing baseball. One young man from the class behind his is still playing and has not seen much playing time. Talent will win out. If one works hard and has the talent he will play.

I would have to agree with playball2011. I read 4seamers response on the other thread about when to showcase. Please take a breadth and relax. you have a lot of time before you should be worrying about your sons college baseball future.

Great discussion! Ok, a bit about the player. His mom is South Korean and 5'1" tall. His dad is 5'9" and played through HS. Thus, he's only 4'9" as an 11u player and his shoulders/wrists/etc don't suggest he's going to get to be much over 5'8" or so. But who knows? Academically, he's a year ahead and home schooled. He's just 10 now and won't be 11 until November.

To his credit, he's an early learning elite catcher. So much so that he's regularly asked to guest play on 12uAAA/13AA type teams. He was also one of the kids to make the 12u NTIS games, albeit he wasn't selected for obvious reasons. Since we're in the S. FL. circuit, he's played highly competitive ball since age 8 (elites each year for his age group and the one above, for example).

On the other side of the coin, he's receiving early Jr. Prep/JV offers from HS programs as he's in 6th grade. I had been warned by other pops that he'd be a great candidate for a hold back year. For me, I see a young man who has met every challenge because he had to work harder and I like that work ethic in him. But as my child, I can't help but to want to take some of the stress off him and keep it fun. Thus why I asked about the rules. I'm with many of you who say the equivalent of 'he may not be playing at age 14'. That's so true. But just wanted to know what most are doing just in case.

Sounds a lot like my son. Was the best player in the area up to about 14u. Was asked to play up but we would not let him. He is also a very good catcher. Mom is 5'0" I am 5'9". Son is forecasted to be 5'10". He is now 5'9". We are both of asian decent. I played in college. We made sure son was well rounded and not just all about baseball. Boy Scouts, piano etc...We did not take baseball all that seriously until just before HS. Kept him in Rec ball up to 14u, started playing TB after 12. Made HS varsity as a freshman in SoCal. My point of all this is you have time, enjoy it. If your son is that good and still is playing He will be fine. It all goes by so quickly. My son is now going into his Junior year.

4seamer, welcome to the site.  There have been other threads here that you can search regarding holding back.  There is some very good information in these threads for both sides of the argument. 

Some of the things you point out would tip the scale one way and some the other.  You mention smaller frame parents and child as a reason to consider holding back.  I would argue the opposite with that line item.  If he is destined to be a small kid, an extra year won't change that.  With his projected size, odds say he is less likely to successfully pursue high level baseball and, therefore, you would be less inclined to hold him back for athletic purposes.  (Don't get me wrong - I am a big advocate of small players accomplishing big things but if you are considering the odds with hold-back decisions, it stands to reason you would have to consider the odds across the board.)  Also, if he is academically ahead a year, holding him back would put him two years behind on getting started with his profession of choice and the salary that goes along with it. 

LOTS to consider.  Search those other threads.  Be sure to enjoy the journey and make decisions based on what is best for him with or without baseball.

In my state, home schoolers are not allowed to participate in school sports under the current rules so if you were here, the topic of holding back or not (for athletics) would not even be in the discussion.

I submit it's too early to project how well he will be playing HS ball or not.  You haven't even transitioned to the 90' diamond.  Lotta kids drop out at that point.  And I don't think holding him back a year will make that much difference in his physical traits.  Just my $0.02.

You have an academically advanced, projected smallish player. He may, or may not, find that catching is his best ultimate position - assuming he remains committed to baseball. He is able to play with older kids (thereby demonstrating that his social interactions are perfectly age normal).

You have no control over his final size, nor the age he will reach that. You have no control whether coaches will have a bias against players his size (and that would not be all coaches; I saw a D3 game this past season where the starting catcher was 5' 3". The HC of Nevada was a fabulous 5' 5" second baseman in his day.).

What do you control? You control the age he is for future grades; hence the original question. You control the amount of effort he will put into school and future standardized test - gatekeepers to some schools.

While the decision to "red-shirt" a kid before HS isn't cut and dry, in your case (IMHO) the balance tips to NOT holding him back (academically advanced, socially able to interact with older players, but small body with limited physical projectability).

If he has superior baseball skills, superior grades, superior test scores, the high academic type schools (Ivy, Patriot) would be a possible target. The higher you go into the academic pyramid, the fewer the number of players who meet both the academic and baseball skill set requirements. (I'm assuming that he will play in HS and run the gauntlet of showcases, lessons, etc..) 

So, I would stop fretting about what you can't conrol (my S was 5'4" 125 lbs as a freshman, graduated at 5' 11" and 145) and hammer what you can control: working on the baseball skills and academics with equal fervor.

Is there really such a thing as an "elite" player at 11u?  

If he is already ahead academically, then holding him back would be a disaster, imo.  Let him go to HS and graduate early.  The baseball will take care of itself.   

All situations are different and holding a kid back is not always a bad thing. My son has an early August birthday and we started him "on time" in Pre K. In Georgia most schools use September as the cutoff. It was obvious by the fifth grade that my son was above average intellectually and athletically. However his maturity level was lower than his classmates and he was basically the youngest kid in his grade.  We made the decision to repeat the fifth grade at a new school before entering Middle School.  many factors went into this and athletics was certainly on that list. These kids will be exposed to many things and we can only hope that they are mature enough to handle themselves as they grow. Among the things we considered were:

1. Last one in his class to drive (riding with others whom we may or may not know because he can't drive yet.

2. Age and maturity level when he leaves home for college.

3. being exposed to lots of influences a year earlier.

4. Dating.(The girls in his grade would have to drive him on dates)

5. Academically we felt he would be fine, but his social relationships were suffering.

6. Athletics. He could compete with the boys in his grade but what would happen as the older boys hit puberty? He was already the youngest, dad was a late bloomer, so if he was a late bloomer, then physically he may be several years behind the boys in his grade?

Lots of other thoughts as well. We held him back and all has gone great. He is happy, and I asked him this morning if he was glad and he said yes.

It will probably have no effect on his college choice, scholarships etc., but it has allowed him to be competitive in several sports and get starting/playing time that he may not have gotten otherwise. He is now in eighth grade and is succeeding in academics, sports and doing much better socially.

Bottom line, it all depends on your kid and your situation! I talked to a lot of parents before we made the decision. Lots of parents told me that they wish they had held their kids back, and I talked to several parents who had held their kids back and none regretted it.

You were able to have him repeat because u moved. Most school systems will not hold a high academic child back because he's a little immature. The best time to have held him back was in K. Easy for an Aug bday to attend an extra yr of preschool and enter K as 6 yr old.

Boys tend to mature later than girls  expectations of 6th grade/middle school makes many kids learn responsibility and mature. 

The fact that athletics played a part in decision is telling. Glad he's happy w decision. 

UPDATE - we have him starting 7th grade in the Fall... kept him up a year. I liked the advice about worrying about school first (he's a Duke TIP scholar) and ball will fall in place. So far he's been blessed with opportunities.. was youngest 11u on field in 12u Team USA Futures Invitational (caught 82 mph!, hit .400/.571 and won silver medal), went to PG national championship and hit a little better, and is one of the few (only?) 11u players invited to play in the 12u MLB/NABC next week. One comment here that resonated with me is that by having him face the bigger/stronger/faster players, he's having to work a LOT harder to gain his accomplishments as a complimentary player. So, great advice. Tkx 

I do know someone that repeated 8th grade...had to go to a private school to do it since the public school wouldn't retain him....so he would be bigger, better, faster, more recruitable (it worked for him).

Also, at my son's college, several of the players did a post-grad year.  These are smart kids at a high academic school.

4seamer, thanks for the update.  Dig this post up in 3 years and let us know how he is doing!  Good luck, he sounds like a talented player!

We started our son a year later (kindergarten at 6)- for athletic reasons. I believed this would be a good move so he wouldn't be the youngest in his class. It worked out very well for him socially, academically and athletically. He verbally committed to a Power 5 school going into his Junior year. No regrets at all... 

I can not think of any good reason to be the youngest in the grade…athletically, socially and academically. If your child is academically advanced, he can take more Honors and AP classes to challenge himself and look better for colleges.  Athleticism and intelligence may not improve by age, but he will have more confidence.  A win win situation. Give him the gift of time.

How about...that's just when his birthday fell?  Someone always has to be youngest, someone always has to be the oldest. I guess I am just not that in tune with any reason to hold a kid back other than it has been recommended by doctors and/or school personnel due to a deficit the child has shown in his development.  

And yes, my son is one of the youngest.  23 days younger he would be in a different grade.