Red shirting a freshman

[Dave]

Has anyone else heard of this in their area?  I'm not talking about red shirting a college freshman, but at the high school level! 
We know a kid that is just completing 8th grade in a neighboring parish's catholic school.  He is going to enter a private school which is well known for their basketball teams and recommended that he come to their school and repeat 8th grade (I know that they are roughly 30K per year, but may knock down that price a little for sports or financial reasons). I believe the parents are going through with this idea.  He's a decent b-ball player and I'm sure that this is the reason for holding him back. 

I'd say that 30% of the kids that are on my sons sports teams are one year older than the "age appropriate" kid is for that grade.  It has become a big thing at least in this area to hold your kid back a year for an added advantage for the kid to succeed in sports.  I can understand if there are concerns about mental development, but just for sports?  I know one family that has four kids and they are all held back. 

I sometimes wish I would've held my kids back, but wouldn't do it at 8th grade.

[Todd Rahm]

I wouldn't hold my kid back for anything but poor grade performance. Sounds kind of crazy and selfish too me, the whole idea of it anyway.

[FinsnFur]

Never heard of it myself, but I kinda agree with Todd.

[markTNhunter]

Dave I hear of that very often around here lately I know a few kids that have been held back for that reason I think it is crazy back in my days in school if you didn't pass to the next grade you didn't play


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[Dave]

Parents around here treat their kids like tiny professional athletes while if 10 kids were to get together on a playground without an adult they wouldn't be able to figure out how to organize a game.  If the kids aren't involved in sports, there's barely any outdoor physical activity. 
Dante is just 13, finishing up 7th grade, and has not hit his growth spurt yet.  He has played 7th/8th grade sports this year which at the varsity level mostly include 15 year old kids that have gone through puberty.  One kid had a full beard that Chuck Norris would be proud of. 
I guess all this is just a thorn in my side and I just need to realize that all the sports crap ends in every kids "career" and the focus needs to be on education. 

[Hawks Feather]

Education?  They don't need no stinking education.  They are all going to be making bazillions of dollars as pros.

Personally, I think it is an extremely BAD practice and I blame the school as much as I blame the parents.  The school is looking for the best athletes so that they can "maintain" their name and recruit more (at $30K a year).  There are parochial schools in Ohio that have recruited players students and some of the football schools did (probably still do) the same thing.  But I have not heard of them retaining a student so that they could get another year of play out of them.  That being said, they probably are and I just don't know it.

Jerry