Should HS sports have a more stringent age limit?

[Sean Miller Fan]

Everyone being held back for sports is getting ridiculous. This is something that DOES have an affect on almost all youth sports participants as opposed to things that people make a big deal out of and affect almost nobody.

How about a national law that you cannot compete in HS sports if you turn 19 before August 31? As it stands, you have HS kids who are 19, turning 20 right after graduation competing as HS students. That's TOO OLD. In some cases, you could have 2 HS seniors. One turns 20 on July 1, a few weeks after graduation, the other doesn't turn 18 until August 31, a 2 year and 2 month difference.

 

[joefromlancaster]

Just have to wonder when high school athletes will start getting NIL money to play ball?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Just have to wonder when high school athletes will start getting NIL money to play ball?

There aren't enough rich boosters that care that much about their HS alma mater. Yea, there may be a few here or there but people don't have that connection to their HS sports team as they do for their college one.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

Just have to wonder when high school athletes will start getting NIL money to play ball?

I imagine some are.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

I imagine some are.

Pryor would have made even more money than he did in high school if he played today

 

[bobfree]

Everyone being held back for sports is getting ridiculous. This is something that DOES have an affect on almost all youth sports participants as opposed to things that people make a big deal out of and affect almost nobody.

How about a national law that you cannot compete in HS sports if you turn 19 after August 31? As it stands, you have HS kids who are 19, turning 20 right after graduation competing as HS students. That's TOO OLD. In some cases, you could have 2 HS seniors. One turns 20 on July 1, a few weeks after graduation, the other doesn't turn 18 until August 31, a 2 year and 2 month difference.

What does this even mean? Every kid will turn 19 after August 31st. You mean before?

 

[pittdan77]

Everyone being held back for sports is getting ridiculous. This is something that DOES have an affect on almost all youth sports participants as opposed to things that people make a big deal out of and affect almost nobody.

How about a national law that you cannot compete in HS sports if you turn 19 after August 31? As it stands, you have HS kids who are 19, turning 20 right after graduation competing as HS students. That's TOO OLD. In some cases, you could have 2 HS seniors. One turns 20 on July 1, a few weeks after graduation, the other doesn't turn 18 until August 31, a 2 year and 2 month difference.

What exactly are you talking about? Is there some sort of specific example?

My kid will turn 19 a month after her graduation and I wouldn't claim that we were "holding her back". She would have been the one of the youngest kids in here class if we started her when she could have started. We talked to many educators and they all recommended we wait and I'm glad we listened.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

What does this even mean? Every kid will turn 19 after August 31st. You mean before?

Yea. Fixed it. Inotherwords, you cannot be 19 years old and competing in HS sports. The way it is now, you can turn 19 in the summer before your senior year and compete as a 19 year old. Some baseball players will win a state championship a week or 2 before their 20th birthday. That shouldn't be.

 

[pittdan77]

Yea. Fixed it. Inotherwords, you cannot be 19 years old and competing in HS sports. The way it is now, you can turn 19 in the summer before your senior year and compete as a 19 year old. Some baseball players will win a state championship a week or 2 before their 20th birthday. That shouldn't be.

This really doesn't make sense. You are only eligible if you turn 19 after July 1 of the year you're competing.

 

[Ray-Ray]

Just have to wonder when high school athletes will start getting NIL money to play ball?

Here is a breakdown of which states permit NIL money for high school students.
State rules for NIL

 

[steelcurtain55.]

PIAA has strict age guidelines for both HS and MS sports.

You cannot turn 19 prior June 30th to be eligible for HS sports.

You cannot turn 15 prior to June 30th to be eligible for MS sports.

PIAA has cracked down on reclasses by starting students' clocks in 7th grade. Once you enter 7th grade, you have 6 years to play seasons of sport.

Sure, under 1% of the athletic population in the state of PA will hold their child back in elementary school for athletic purposes, but no one is losing sleep. Some very popular and successful wrestlers in PA have been reclassed.

I've had a few kids graduate at the age of 16. One became an all PSAC 1st team RB twice. Often it's because some parents are poor so they enter their child into pre-k earlier then others.

 

[Upg bobcat]

I've had a few kids graduate at the age of 16. One became an all PSAC 1st team RB twice. Often it's because some parents are poor so they enter their child into pre-k earlier then others.

Graduate high school at 16? That's an impressive feat in my eyes.

 

[Pitt_Boss]

There aren't enough rich boosters that care that much about their HS alma mater. Yea, there may be a few here or there but people don't have that connection to their HS sports team as they do for their college one.

Correct , there aren’t enough rich high school boosters that care about their alma mater to buy a championship. However, there are rich parents that care plenty of enough to buy players to put alongside their son/daughter and make them look better.

Heck, we just had rich parent buy a WPIAL baseball championship at SetonLasalle a couple years ago. Imagine if they could now do that above board and fund some NIL to land even more talent.

 

[jtownknowitall]

What exactly are you talking about? Is there some sort of specific example?

My kid will turn 19 a month after her graduation and I wouldn't claim that we were "holding her back". She would have been the one of the youngest kids in here class if we started her when she could have started. We talked to many educators and they all recommended we wait and I'm glad we listened.

Many of us didn’t turn 18 until after we graduated from high school. In fact some of you might not have turned 18 for six or seven months.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

PIAA has strict age guidelines for both HS and MS sports.

You cannot turn 19 prior June 30th to be eligible for HS sports.

You cannot turn 15 prior to June 30th to be eligible for MS sports.

PIAA has cracked down on reclasses by starting students' clocks in 7th grade. Once you enter 7th grade, you have 6 years to play seasons of sport.

Sure, under 1% of the athletic population in the state of PA will hold their child back in elementary school for athletic purposes, but no one is losing sleep. Some very popular and successful wrestlers in PA have been reclassed.

I've had a few kids graduate at the age of 16. One became an all PSAC 1st team RB twice. Often it's because some parents are poor so they enter their child into pre-k earlier then others.

As I said, you could have 2 HS seniors, born 24 months apart. Player A will turn 20 a week after winning the state baseball championship. Player B won't turn 18 until August 31. That's too much of an age difference.

As for your "1%", while that's probably true because most kids don't end up playing varsity sports, the amount of varsity athletes "playing down" 1 class year is probably somewhere around 20%. Its a significant number and only getting higher. I dont believe you should be able to compete in HS sports as a 19 year old.

 

[steelcurtain55.]

As for your "1%", while that's probably true because most kids don't end up playing varsity sports, the amount of varsity athletes "playing down" 1 class year is probably somewhere around 20%.

I've coached at 4 different HS in the last 15 years. I've had 1 reclass during that time.

My 1% point is reflective of kids being reclassed prior to 7th grade. It's extremely rare. It was much more common to be done in 7th and 8th grade once puberty set in. The old "coal county redshirt" was somewhat of a norm out in Anthracite regions.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I've coached at 4 different HS in the last 15 years. I've had 1 reclass during that time.

My 1% point is reflective of kids being reclassed prior to 7th grade. It's extremely rare. It was much more common to be done in 7th and 8th grade once puberty set in. The old "coal county redshirt" was somewhat of a norm out in Anthracite regions.

I'm not just talking about reclass's. There are a lot of kids who turn 6 in April, May, June, July who don't start Kindergarten until August. While, sure, some of these are for developmental/maturity reasons, a lot of these decisions are made by former HS athlete/college athlete parents who want to ensure their child is 1 year older than the kids they are playing against. What I am suggesting is a hard age cutoff. You can't play HS sports as a 19 year old. It's an unfair advantage. As someone who coaches and has kids of each gender, I am a thousand times more concerned about my kids playing and competing with kids who are 1 year older than the class they are in than I am of the .000001% chance we ever compete against a biological male. The age thing is a real problem. From another angle, do you want your 15 or 16 year old daughter dating a 19 year old HS senior? They'd only be separated by 1 or 2 class years. These kids are too old to be playing HS sports.