All school districts set a date for eligibility of a child to start school. Across Kansas and I would interpolate that to include most of the United States in general, a common date of eligibility is August 31st. If you walk into any elementary class, there are noticeable maturity gaps (both mental and physical) between that class and the next grade level. I don’t think it is too far of a stretch to say that from K-6th grade the maturity leap would best be fit to an exponentially increasing curve. When you jump two grade levels the maturity level is not only notable it is glaringly noticeable. You might have an advanced fourth grade child who fits into the average 5th grade classroom, but try and place him in a 6th grade class and more often than not he would be a fish out of water. Try and enroll a child into Kindergarten with a September 24th birthday a year early and you will be told the age restrictions are in place for a reason; “no exceptions” will be made. I know this from personal experience. I am actually glad there was a “no exceptions” rule in my district. While my son would have fit in with the class ahead of his, I now am fully aware of the advantages he will have being one of the older kids in his class.
The school cutoff date was the main reasoning for tying our age divisions to the August 31st date as opposed to the January 1st date used at the National level. As I said in an earlier post and many may disagree, I believe that the USAW leadership at the National level is behind the times in this area. To sum up my thoughts the downside of a January 1st cutoff are:
1. Bracketing 4th grade kids with 6th grade kids. Or for even more of a mismatch, a 6th grade kid with an 8th grader. Both scenerios are possible at the national level.
2. Eliminating the eligibility of a large number of junior classman.
Everyone has a different personal agenda. But while I think it is important to embrace change which will have a positive impact on our sport, these changes need to be evaluated and measured to see what the best fit for our sport is today and in the future. I do not think that we should just rubber stamp the National classifications without serious thought and modifications as deemed necessary; especially in regards to the age cutoffs. I am in favor of tweaking our classifications to better serve our currant membership, however I am not convinced that the January 1st cutoff is the way to go. At this time, I would consider any motion that included language to that effect a step into the past and could not support it.
