[Coach Howard]

This will be my last statement on this thread or any thread that talks about hold-backs because I think I have made my opinion pretty obvious to everyone concerned. However, I had read the holdback post several times over the past two or so weeks and ignored it because I have voiced my opinion year after year on the topic. But what got me going was the post by someone I'm not familiar with putting a young man's name in his post pretty much calling him and his parents out. I have spoken to this young man and his father and not only do I support his decision to hold his son back but I think it was one of the best hold backs I've seen over the years. The kid was not ready to move on to high school even though he may have appeared to be physically ready to someone else. After talking to the father I was made aware of some of the circumstances that made their decisions easier for them. These circumstances are none of your business and if he wanted you to know them he would have posted them for everyone to read and he didn't so I am not going to elaborate on them either. However, when an adult purposefully posts a child's name for everyone to read and made it clear who that child was is unforgivable regardless of what has happened or the surrounding circumstances. Please remember in the future that there is no case when a adult should ever post a child's name on a post for someone else to read and make assumptions about a child. Guys whenever a person get's on a public forum like this and forgets or ignores that we have an impact on how children's lives are affected by what we say and do that person should be banned from sites like this. Guys I'm not above making a mistake sometimes in what I type and if I have ever offended or hurt someone's feelings particularly a child I sincerely apologize. I guess this post was from the father in me first, then the teacher and then the coach but it really bothered me to see a fine young man that I have coached against this year being hung out to dry and not being able to do anything about it. If it was one of my players I would be contacting moderators and trying to find out who and why someone did this. High school kids are older, more mature, and a little bit jaded as to what someone says about them but a middle school kid is still a child regardless of what they look like or how big they are and they need to be treated like a child and it's up to us to make sure that their self-esteem and psyche is protected until they can take care of themselves.