[NEXT]

I agree with PHS 1986 on this topic. My son will be 17 when he graduates. It isnt like when kids graduate high school that they are thrown out in the world. Most live at home for at least a year or two unless they are in college. Then they live at home during the summer and holidays. I personally think it is better if a kid is good enough for college sports to be red shirted his freshmen year and get a extra year of college for free than to repeat 7th grade twice. Maybe I better say 6th grade now that the county has passed that rule that if you are a holdback in middle school you dont play the second year of the same grade. If the state would step in and say you cant get your drivers license until you are a junior in high school, regardless of your age, I bet that holdbacks would be cut back a lot.

Your son would have probably benefited most from being held back because of his size and physical maturity and it will probably make a difference in him going to a NAIA school or a D-1 school, thats just MHO though and your his father and you know whats best for your son.


I think that is the thing, it should be up to parents not the school or BOE. In reality I have never seen a child hurt by being held back but have seen many helped, like the SV kids, Harmon from Pikeville, Case From Belfry last year, the Paintsville kids, the kids from Rose Hill.

I'll give you another example, Sheldon Clark and JC dominate Belfry and Pikeville in middle school football because of hold backs and they are definitely catching up to Pikeville and Belfry at the high school level in football because the kids are flat out more mature.

The opposite end is SV and Pikeville to a lesser extent is the class of the region in basketball this year along with Paintsville and SV is loaded with holdbacks and I am glad, Pikeville has 2-3 I think and Painstville has 2-3 or more. That will be a thing of the past though, as Pike Co. and Pikeville do not allow holdbacks after the 6th grade while EVERY OTHER SCHOOL IN THE 15TH DOES. IMVHO you will not see another region title from Pike Co. this SV/Pikeville group is done if the rule is not changed.

Let me also say that as parents you guys see athletics in a small vacuum most of the time, your school, county, and region. Coaches see and talk to people all over the state and holdbacks are as common as non-holdbacks almost everywhere in the state.