The boys at Freakonomics have come up with another interesting point. In this one they posit that we’ll probably see a disproportionate number of players born in January and February in this year’s World Cup. Their reasoning has to do with FIFA’s adopting a January 1 cutoff date for determining eligibility on national youth soccer teams which should have a ripple effect throughout the rest of the players’ careers.
Upon further review they decided that since different countries use different dates for their own "in country" purposes that the World Cup might not be the best example. So they looked at the NHL and found a very strong relationship between birth months early in the year and participation in the league (hardly any players were born between September and December).
I was one of those kids with a September birthday that could make me either the oldest kid or youngest kid in the class. My mom was told that if I was held back I’d probably get bored and become a troublemaker so she opted for me to be the youngest, which wasn’t really a problem until 8th and 9th grade. I was a late bloomer so when I got out of 9th grade I was barely 5 feet tall which didn’t help my athletic or romantic prospects.
For 10th grade I transferred to a small private school (85 students) and by default all the boys played every sport. That coincided with my first growth spurt so by the time I was through 11th grade I was 5’8 and getting some playing time on the soccer field and basketball court. My senior year I was 6 feet tall and weighed in at 150 pounds (I couldn’t put weight on no matter how hard I tried) and I averaged 16 points a game on the varsity basketball team. I often wonder what kind of high school career I would have had if I was held back a year. I put 20 pounds on my freshman year of college and I can only imagine I would have had a pretty good senior year.
No regrets though; I might have been good enough to get a scholarship to a small school which would have changed the course of my whole life. I wouldn’t have gone to GMU, met my wife and as happy as I am now I wouldn’t do anything to change those eventualities.
Back to the original point: in my mind there is absolutely no doubt that the arbitrary cut-off dates that youth sports leagues use has a huge impact on kids’ level of success.
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So the next step is watching birth rates to see if parents start “aiming” for giving birth around February.
It wouldn’t surprise me…unfortunately.
My daughters birthdate (October) constantly puts her in groups that are younger than her. She missed the kindergarten cutoff date by 7 days. She was almost 6 when she started kindergarten. She is a straight A student and is known as the “teachers assistant.” The children in her class go to her or help with their work. Anyway, the issue is this…….
Because of her birthdate she misses cutoff dates for sports. We are involved in a situation with our soccer league. We have U10 ages are 8 and 9 year olds, and we have U12, ages 10 and 11 years old. My daughter is 10. Problem is………you had to be before August 1st of 2007. She didn’t turn 10 until October 7.
My daughter is very tall for her age. She is fast, she is strong. She is very athletic and competitive. She should NOT be playing with 8 and 9 year old kids. She holds back when the kids are so much smaller than her. She doesn’t want to plow them over or take a chance of hurting them, so, she backs off and doesn’t play aggressively.
Our soccer league says that if they let one child “bump up” they would have to let another and another.
I have always bumped her up on the “even” numbered years. The “odd” number years, she still plays with kids her age. But, being 2008, it is time to move up.
This was NEVER an issue, until last year. Her coach wanted her to stay on his team, so, when he said something to me about our next season, I told him she would be moving up. Next thing I know, he calls to tell me that her birthdate will not allow her to bump up, so, she needs to stay with him?? He is the one that has brought this to light.
What is your opinion on this matter?
Thank you in advance for your time.
Upset mom in TN.
Hi and thanks for the comment,
To be honest I’ve never heard of a child having a problem playing up an age level. Usually you hear complaints about kids playing below their level as “ringers” but not kids playing up. In fact when we lived in the DC area my daughter did just that so that she could play with a family friend and so I could help coach that team. My daughter was dwarfed by the other girls but it worked out fairly well.
My take is this: as long as a child isn’t in physical danger then she should play against the best competition possible, even if that means moving up in age. Some kids just mature faster than others and some kids are simply better athletes than others and it’s not fair to penalize them based on some red line on a calendar. Kids will only get better if they play against players who are at least as good as them, if not better, and in my mind it’s in the best interest of the kids to give them every opportunity to improve. So if it’s in the best interest of the child to move them up then that’s what should be done.
Thanks again for the comment.