U.S.A./USSSA age chart changes

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Jun 8, 2016
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Unfortunately some teams have instead started using the fall to chase trophies bc they are staying put and going against the teams willing to take their lumps.
I honestly don’t know of any teams here in OK who ever did this (at least any who were good enough to notice..) but I hear about it on here all the time..weird. Is this a C ball sort of thing?
 

JOHNN

Just a dad of 3 girls
Aug 5, 2019
375
43
South Louisiana
I honestly don’t know of any teams here in OK who ever did this (at least any who were good enough to notice..) but I hear about it on here all the time..weird. Is this a C ball sort of thing?
I dont think its just limited to C Class. From what Ive seen, some teams seem to look at the fall as an extension of the spring/summer season. I think its become more prevalent bc the older teams do it (rightfully so if in 18u) and unless they were playing Utrip, they werent forced to move up until Jan if playing in a tournament that incorporates USA rules.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I dont think its just limited to C Class. From what Ive seen, some teams seem to look at the fall as an extension of the spring/summer season. I think its become more prevalent bc the older teams do it (rightfully so if in 18u) and unless they were playing Utrip, they werent forced to move up until Jan if playing in a tournament that incorporates USA rules.
There isn’t a whole lot of USA ball around here so that might be it.
 
Apr 1, 2017
535
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That's how it's always been in USSSA, and every organization my daughters have played for always followed those guidelines.
Our team has a few 2005 birthday Juniors. 2005 is 18u in USSSA. Basically mid Aug through Dec 31st birthdays will be juniors in high school and classified 18u.


Personally, I think the new age classification that follows the school age breakdowns makes sense for younger, and lower level teams. When we started in 12u, our entire team was from our town, and most went to school together. However, they were a mix of '04 and '05 birthdays, so second year 12u basically split the team in half. As the team has gotten older, the 'same school' thing doesn't really apply. Even our mostly local team has girls from 5 different high schools. However, no matter what the age cutoff is, it seems like a problem if all the sanctions aren't using the same date. Just creates more problems and confusion.
 

RJK

Mar 23, 2022
66
18
They are basically trying to line up age groups with grad classes as most school systems have an Aug. 31 cutoff date.

While at the same time alienating kids born September-Dec. The benefit is, teams cant sandbag tournaments in December before aging up. A lot of the travel orgs already age up Sept 1st anyways.
 
Dec 2, 2019
102
43
While at the same time alienating kids born September-Dec. The benefit is, teams cant sandbag tournaments in December before aging up. A lot of the travel orgs already age up Sept 1st anyways.
Maybe I'm still looking at this wrong, but my daughter is a late November birthday, so the new ages would give her a chance to be one of the oldest on a team instead of always being the youngest. Her current team has a few girls that have January birthdays, so those girls are basically a year older than her. I think it will be an advantage to the late month birthday girls
 

RJK

Mar 23, 2022
66
18
Maybe I'm still looking at this wrong, but my daughter is a late November birthday, so the new ages would give her a chance to be one of the oldest on a team instead of always being the youngest. Her current team has a few girls that have January birthdays, so those girls are basically a year older than her. I think it will be an advantage to the late month birthday girls

You're not wrong, it depends on how you look at it and your daughter's goals. If she wants to play in HS or beyond then imo it would be beneficial to play with girls from her graduating year and not girls that are essentially a year younger than her. For example purposes and this may not apply to you but an 8th grader born in November could still technically play 12u under the new rule. Its not really going to help her when she gets to 9th grade and her peers have a year of 14u experience. But as I said, each girls goals are different, so it absolutely is going to benefit some.
 
May 13, 2021
643
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Around here there are so many kids that get held back a year in school. The whole aligning age group with grad classes seems like an odd concept.
 
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Dec 2, 2019
102
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You're not wrong, it depends on how you look at it and your daughter's goals. If she wants to play in HS or beyond then imo it would be beneficial to play with girls from her graduating year and not girls that are essentially a year younger than her. For example purposes and this may not apply to you but an 8th grader born in November could still technically play 12u under the new rule. Its not really going to help her when she gets to 9th grade and her peers have a year of 14u experience. But as I said, each girls goals are different, so it absolutely is going to benefit some
She plays on a National team now and is by far the smallest on the field, but she's never going to be a giant no matter what her age is. She's actually a year behind in school from the majority of her team. I think the rule would help some lower level girls that might not be ready to move into the next age group.
 
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