Player Age when 1 grade lower

[daywalkerdad]

I believe the USSSA will eventually realize how silly its birthdate cut-off is and make the change. They likely already know what they need to do, they just wanted to flex on USA who did it without any communication or notice. My daughter has a December birthday. Even if USSSA changed to align with USA, she would continue to "play up" so it doesn't really affect her one way or the other. It will be a bit of an inconvenience when she's in 8th grade playing club ball with high schoolers I suppose. Whatever, we will work around it.

Good players will be good regardless if they are playing with kids a grade level above them. It's really not that big of difference. My concern is for the younger players who aren't as good. Quitting because they don't have the support system of their classmate friends. I've coached a lot of softball from 8u to high school. I've seen countless kids quit because they are playing with a bunch of players a grade older than them. It's not because they are the youngest, that's going to happen with any birthdate deadline. It's because they hit a confidence issue then go through the season while their friends at school are talking about a team they feel they should get to be a part of. If it were my kid, I'd say "tough luck, fight through it." Some kids don't have the mental maturity or parenting to help them get through this.

Just my two cents. Not a battle I am overly passionate about as it doesn't affect my situation. I've seen it happen quite a few times though so I do have an opinion on it.

While the difference maybe small, I do not think it is insignificant.

My DD team this year has played the top 3 orgs in our area. On each team every player but 1-2 in the higher grade. I have no way of knowing if the lower grade was a delayed start.

When you talk about making a team small differences can be a deciding factor. A few unicorns exist where it does not matter. You still see decent improvement year over year growth until 15.
For example 9-12 months ago DD was throwing 52-53 with warning track power. Now 57-58, has cleared the fence by 15-20’.

This is going to happen regardless of cutt-off. In many ways it can be a benefit going 14u in 7th grade.