16 year old freshman and 20year old seniors .

I think we are getting way far down this rabbit hole now, which I guess is part of the point of Yappi good/debatable conversations, but I think it's a stretch to say not being held back in school (at any grade or age) created a sub-par adult life. I agree 100% with the don't grow up too fast, life flies by especially the older you get, but this whole debate and choice comes down to each kid, each situation, they are all unique. Hopefully each family and kid does what's best for them. I think we all have things we wish we could do over, but in my my humble opinion as someone who never wrestled, but with two kids that do, the hope is the big picture mental toughness that it helps to create prepares them for the realities of the real world, whether you're a multi-time state champ, never crack the lineup or somewhere in between.
 
In the words of Kat Williams. If you are 20 and still wrestling in high school.... I have no idea what you are doing with your life....

No 20 year old should be wrestling in high school. Period.
 
xXAviatorEliteXx said:
Wishing to be held back is mind blowing. Unless the child genuinely didn’t understand the grade level material, it’s ridiculous.
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What about a kid who's in junior high and is physically underdeveloped, less than 100 pounds? If they're too small for wrestling they're too small to play pretty much any sport. I don't think it's crazy to hold somebody back so they can enjoy their extracurricular activities. This only applies to true late bloomers, not average kids who just want a competitive advantage.
 
10 Inch Falcon said:
What about a kid who's in junior high and is physically underdeveloped, less than 100 pounds? If they're too small for wrestling they're too small to play pretty much any sport. I don't think it's crazy to hold somebody back so they can enjoy their extracurricular activities. This only applies to true late bloomers, not average kids who just want a competitive advantage.
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So what if they are held back and still don’t develop? Sounds like a waste to me. I was just informed that one of the “top” 5th grade basketball players in the area actually was held back(reclassified)… and he’s still gettin cooked by kids a grade level below him. Was it worth it? And yes I know this is the wrestling section but it still applies to the current conversation
 
xXAviatorEliteXx said:
So what if they are held back and still don’t develop? Sounds like a waste to me. I was just informed that one of the “top” 5th grade basketball players in the area actually was held back(reclassified)… and he’s still gettin cooked by kids a grade level below him. Was it worth it? And yes I know this is the wrestling section but it still applies to the current conversation
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If you have the means and the kid is a true late bloomer I think it should be a legitimate conversation. Now the nature of this thread is about elite athletes, I agree doing it so that you can get recruited or win state as a freshman is stupid and immoral. When it comes to if the kid will be able to participate or not I think that's a reasonable discussion.
 
10 Inch Falcon said:
If you have the means and the kid is a true late bloomer I think it should be a legitimate conversation. Now the nature of this thread is about elite athletes, I agree doing it so that you can get recruited or win state as a freshman is stupid and immoral. When it comes to if the kid will be able to participate or not I think that's a reasonable discussion.
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I don’t agree with it either way but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
 
dion said:
First of all Einstein I have no kids. Secondly, it's obviously a matter of values/principles. Let's forget about ages. Would you be upset if you had a daughter that was a wrestler, and she was injured by a boy wrestler who thought he was a girl. It's all a matter of values or principles. If that wouldn't upset you that's fine and dandy, but I wouldn't have an issue with a parent who was upset that his daughter was injured just as I wouldn't have an issue with a parent whose 14-year-old son was injured by a guy within a stone's throw of 20. All I'm saying is that in both instances the parent has a LEGITIMATE concern based on their principles and values.
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Next thing ya know, those people will be OK with blacks competing against our white kids. -Satire
 
If you're worried about your 14 yo freshman wrestling 19 yos, wait till your 18 yo freshman is wrestling 25-26 yos.
Graduating class:
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There are reasons for holding back, starting late or whatever you choose to do with your child and they are your choice. We react as programned when others do things outside the normal choices we've been conditioned to believe through our life. Somebody shatters the expectations of whats right and all hell breaks lose for us emotionally. We then attack them because it helps assure us we're doing the right thing and those other people are immoral.
 
it blows my mind that people think its ok to research the ages of other peoples kids. to me it borders on pedophilia.
some of these wack jobs prolly think its ok to do visual puberty tests on kids to make sure they didn't advance into puberty before they think they should
the real determination is onset of puberty NOT a bioligical age
 
wrestlfan said:
it blows my mind that people think its ok to research the ages of other peoples kids. to me it borders on pedophilia.
some of these wack jobs prolly think its ok to do visual puberty tests on kids to make sure they didn't advance into puberty before they think they should
the real determination is onset of puberty NOT a bioligical age
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Well, you don't really have to research much when kids wrestle in age-based brackets in youth, junior high, and freestyle/greco and then the high school grade doesn't line up.

Why is it accepted in college? There was plenty of discussion/information about age, year of high school graduation, and number of years enrolled. There was a chart of each AA and when they graduated high school. Fix and Vito they talked specifically about their age. They graduated the same year and Vito was a year younger. I don't understand why it is so taboo to discuss a kids age in high school. Heck in youth you are required to have a birth certificate to prove the birth year same with USA wrestling, but in high school it shall not be discussed. It makes no sense.
 
dion said:
I have nothing but respect for your post, but if your 14 was injured by a "kid" within days of turning 20 you might be singing a different tune.
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I have coached older kids (as in 18yo for the majority of their senior year) who were injured by freshmen (not sure exact age, because I couldn't care less about the bio of my kids' opponents)

Maybe its different as a parent - but to a (large) degree, anyone can injure anyone.
 
Hot_Takes said:
Well, you don't really have to research much when kids wrestle in age-based brackets in youth, junior high, and freestyle/greco and then the high school grade doesn't line up.

Why is it accepted in college? There was plenty of discussion/information about age, year of high school graduation, and number of years enrolled. There was a chart of each AA and when they graduated high school. Fix and Vito they talked specifically about their age. They graduated the same year and Vito was a year younger. I don't understand why it is so taboo to discuss a kids age in high school. Heck in youth you are required to have a birth certificate to prove the birth year same with USA wrestling, but in high school it shall not be discussed. It makes no sense.
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A lot of kids don't wrestle there correct age in age based brackets or grade ib grade based brackets. The Oac specifically doesn't let you change a grade that a kid is i listed in. My sons grade has been listed wrong for years and I just chuckle. Some of the stalkers will throw fits at some point

I still say onset of puberty has everything to do with physical maturity not the chronological age that everyone worries about
 
There are kids that turned 16 before the first day of school freshman year that didn’t win a match at the high school state tournament so for them holding back might have been the only option to eventually get on the podium by the time they graduated giving them at least a fighting chance of getting some kind of college experience.
 
Hot_Takes said:
Just checking up to see if everyone is alright. Some heads might explode, Basset just had a post that he is 17 as a sophomore and will turn 19 as a senior but still eligible :ROFLMAO:
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I've read enough comments on this forum that leads me to believe many of the people posting should have been held back. 17 is the new normal as a sophomore and you can blame Malcolm Gladwell. Don't think this is exclusive to wrestling for a second. Talent beats age in most cases.
 
EastsideCat said:
I've read enough comments on this forum that leads me to believe many of the people posting should have been held back. 17 is the new normal as a sophomore and you can blame Malcolm Gladwell. Don't think this is exclusive to wrestling for a second. Talent beats age in most cases.
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I think lost in this never ending debate about holdbacks is that maybe a 14 year old freshman who has not physically matured yet simply isn't quite ready for H.S. varsity competition and that's perfectly OK. Use 9th & 10th grade to develop and just get better at wrestling There's levels to this....JV, Freshman, USAW age group.
 
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All comes back to choices. To the people whining about competing against older kids, no matter what the sport. You have the choice/freedom to hold your child back if you feel that's the problem. Either that or get better, sorry to be harsh, truth hurts, and most people have a hard time being honest with themselves and/or their kids, then you just create a monster. When your good your good, you really think Bo Basset wouldn't be what he is if he was 15 or 16..... laughable. Level up, if you don't like it, then pick another sport, but have fun because there's old kids in every sport.
 
Playoffs??? said:
All comes back to choices. To the people whining about competing against older kids, no matter what the sport. You have the choice/freedom to hold your child back if you feel that's the problem. Either that or get better, sorry to be harsh, truth hurts,
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Actually, it comes back to ethics. I doubt if anyone on this board would say that that there should be no age limit whatsoever between a 14-year-old competitor and his older opponent. Some type of authority HAS to be recognized to try and make the best decision for all involved. Personally, I thought that the old method of a student athlete turning 19 before a designated "fall date" was the ideal cutoff, but surprisingly enough that wasn't good enough for the "hold backs".
 
many choices are made by parents, doctors and schools about grades that kids are in and their developmental level. Keyboard warriors have ZERO business knowing about these decisions. They might not know that a kid was hidden from society and when found was placed in a grade based on where he could catch up. It had ZERO to do with age and is nobodys business. This kid is now doing well, very old for his grade and subjected to parents talking S88T. It is so sad.
You parents that think you can make decisions for kids based on what you think their age is and what grade you think is right are pathetic
 
dion said:
Actually, it comes back to ethics. I doubt if anyone on this board would say that that there should be no age limit whatsoever between a 14-year-old competitor and his older opponent. Some type of authority HAS to be recognized to try and make the best decision for all involved. Personally, I thought that the old method of a student athlete turning 19 before a designated "fall date" was the ideal cutoff, but surprisingly enough that wasn't good enough for the "hold backs".
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Fair enough, at the end of the day as with most things, never going to please everyone. Is an 18- or 19-year-old stronger, more physically mature in most cases? Of course, but whether wrestling or any other sport, always going to be someone bigger, badder, better, and it's not always an age thing. High level kids are high level regardless of age, and this is coming from someone that has kids that are young at the jr high and HS level in 3 sports. I guess I personally do not have a problem with whatever anyone else is doing with their kids from a schooling/athletic perspective. Are their people that take every advantage of how the rules are yes? Are there kids that truly need the extra year or two based on physical or mental needs also a yes. So many different levels in wrestling and all sports, you have freshman coming in that have wrestled on the national circuit ready to compete, podium and sometimes at the top right away, all from their training and wrestling up for years. Same goes for any other sport with travel baseball, volleyball, softball, football maybe not so much. Some of them are hold backs, but I'd wager to say many are not.
 
Old&Grumpy142 said:
I think lost in this never ending debate about holdbacks is that maybe a 14 year old freshman who has not physically matured yet simply isn't quite ready for H.S. varsity competition and that's perfectly OK. Use 9th & 10th grade to develop and just get better at wrestling There's levels to this....JV, Freshman, USAW age group.
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My son is a hockey player for US and is 15 1/2 and 6'2" but only 150 lbs. This year he was the last cut from varsity and was bummed. I understood why but pointed out that all the sophomores who made that team would be turning 17 during the school year. I could have held him back but for what. Few if any kids from Cleveland make the NHL. He needs another year to add weight(he informed me he had 26 bacon cheeseburgers and 7 orders of tenders in 6 days of vacation last week) and he will be ready for next year. This worked for us but not everyone is the same.
My cousin repeated 8th grade wrestled for Ed's and never finished higher than 3rd. But he got into Princeton so that worked for them.
His older brother was a March birthday and often had to deal with wrestlers who were a yr older in the same grade. He won state at 3 different weight classes.
Do what's right for your kid and ignore the outside chatter. Make sure they are happy because their mental health long term is the biggest factor in future success.
 
TheFan1 said:
If you're worried about your 14 yo freshman wrestling 19 yos, wait till your 18 yo freshman is wrestling 25-26 yos.
Graduating
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Hot_Takes said:
Just checking up to see if everyone is alright. Some heads might explode, Basset just had a post that he is 17 as a sophomore and will turn 19 as a senior but still eligible :ROFLMAO:
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😂😂
Old&Grumpy142 said:
I think lost in this never ending debate about holdbacks is that maybe a 14 year old freshman who has not physically matured yet simply isn't quite ready for H.S. varsity competition and that's perfectly OK. Use 9th & 10th grade to develop and just get better at wrestling There's levels to this....JV, Freshman, USAW age group.
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I agree freshman and sophomore year should be used as developmental years but a lot of parents don’t want to take the time to develop their kids ,all they want is a state champion they can care less about anything else.But I laugh when I see parents hold their kids back and they still don’t win a state championship or even place top 3 at that point it was all for nothing!
 
EastsideCat said:
My son is a hockey player for US and is 15 1/2 and 6'2" but only 150 lbs. This year he was the last cut from varsity and was bummed. I understood why but pointed out that all the sophomores who made that team would be turning 17 during the school year. I could have held him back but for what. Few if any kids from Cleveland make the NHL. He needs another year to add weight(he informed me he had 26 bacon cheeseburgers and 7 orders of tenders in 6 days of vacation last week) and he will be ready for next year. This worked for us but not everyone is the same.
My cousin repeated 8th grade wrestled for Ed's and never finished higher than 3rd. But he got into Princeton so that worked for them.
His older brother was a March birthday and often had to deal with wrestlers who were a yr older in the same grade. He won state at 3 different weight classes.
Do what's right for your kid and ignore the outside chatter. Make sure they are happy because their mental health long term is the biggest factor in future success.
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Nailed it!
 
Name any sport that doesn't classify by age through scholastic years. Then after college as abilities decline they still put people in brackets, 30 and over, 40 and over, etc. What is JB like 30 and there is talk about his skills diminishing. There is a nice bell curve that shows where athletic peformance peaks. There are outliers to that peak, but it is pretty well understood how to keep athletes within that window of opportunity. Some take that to the extreme whether in favor or against each side is trying to get whatever advantage they can. Same train of thought 2 different opinions on how to get it. That will never change. It's the nature of the beast because the rules are based off of data compiled over decades to place athletes into the right competitive age range.
 
made me chuckle listening to askren and him talking about age and saying well unless you are in ohio 17 and a soph is not normal
 
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