8th grade holdback

They may. But if this rule were to pass it wouldn't matter what school the 8th grade was in. It would just make it to where a student's total eligibility began in the 8th grade. And, the student would only have a maximum of 2 8th grade semesters instead of 4 if he held back. Cuz if he stayed in the 8th grade then it would serve no purpose cuz if he did he would go into the 9th grade with only 6 semesters of eligibility and not be eligible his sr. year.

You are correct I will try to find the exact wording of that rule (which was changed into the current rule which seldom is correct in that is is NOT very different than the old rule)

I may be wrong, but I thought the main advantage in holding back a student wasn't to gain eligibility, but to give him an extra year to mature (physically, mentally, and emotionally). If that's the case, hold him back anytime - he'll still be 19 his senior year.

That is the excuse. But really, do you think that is the main motavation behind most holdbacks? You have to ask yourself, how many students do you know that held back that were athletes. And, how many do you know that played no sports. That should answer the motivation behind holding back. Because the need to develop physically, emotionally and mentally won't just affect athletes.

Yeah, good points. I agree.

Well it looks like there may be another change to the "Holdback rule" while this one will still not prevent it , it will force changes if passed

http://vhsl.org/minutes.htm
"March 07 Agenda"

[ QUOTE ]
(2) 28-2-2 (4) GRADE RULE EXCEPTIONS:

(1) Student may compete on the subvarsity.....

(4) A student may participate in VHSL sub-varsity sports for one year only prior to entering the ninth grade.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would not only mean that 8th grade holdbacks would have to sit out a year of JV but ALSO that setups like GC JV football would be illagle (since 7th grade would be there one year prior to 9th in playing sub-varcity)

it passed commity 25-0 so I will be shocked if it does not pass

this will be very interesting if this actually passes into a rule. kentucky has been doing this for years. i don't know how well this will go over in Va.

Strangly enough a guy I work with lives in KY and has a kid in 5th grade and told me that he is thinking about holding him back for sports/maturaty but will have to do it this year becouse after 6th grade you have to sit out a year

This would effectively work and somewhat quell holding back unless the student started kindergarten a year early. There would be some exceptions but let's say a kid turns 5 in March and begins school the following year. If the kid passed all grades and graduated on time he would graduate at 18 and 3 months if school let out in May. If he failed any grade he would still be eligible his Sr. year of highschool, but none beyond that. By the time a kid is in the 8th grade you can usually tell for sure if he will be a good HS athlete. That distinction is not as clear in 7th or 8th grade. Sure there will still be holdbacks, but it won't be as easy to convince a parent of a 6th grader to hold their kid back. Furthermore, with a 1 year limit imposed on any sports before 9th grade, any holdback will have one year where they will have no place to play since they would be too old for little league and waiting a year to play 8th grade...or even sit out a second 8th grade year because that had played 8th grade the year before. If they wanted to cut it out completely they would vote for the rule proposed last year on 10 consecutive semesters beginning in 8th grade. This is like a compromise of sorts i guess.

True what it will do is keep kids fromdoing it in 8th grade without loseing a year...

The second thing that this will do is screw up thae schools that have 7th and 8th grade teams since there patisapation in 7th grade will prevent them from compeating when they are in 8th grade even if they do not "Hold Back"