[Lambert #1]

Devilogist,
I agree that education comes first and is really the only thing that matters. Athletics is a very small part of the whole formula. However, I do think that there is a place time and a place that holding students back is a positive instead of a negative. I've been around the fields and gyms for several years now and I have seen the benefits of holding a student athlete back a year. Let's forget about the field of play, let's take into consideration the growth emotionally and the maturity a child can develop in that hold back year. I have seen students that perform poorly, just fit in and go through the day to day events and are never noticed. The holdbacks that I have seen develop and grow into the leaders in the hallways and classrooms and bloom into something that they were not before the holdback year. I see both sides of the argument but I fall on the side that it should be a parents decision to make for their child. Definitely pros/cons in the situation but to each their own.