Why is there a 19 year old in the Footlocker Championships this year?

Parents are holding their kids back more than ever. I started Kindergarten at 4, graduated at 17 and was already into my first semester of college before turning 18.

Nowadays parents hold their kids back start at 6, or some ridiculous thing, making them 19 or 20 when they graduate high school for god sake!

I was out of college at 21, had a master's degree before 23, and into the workforce.

Kids now don't even get a real job until 26 or 27.

Also, get off my lawn.

She's an Eritrean immigrant so she started high school as a 17 year old. She's a junior now, however this is her last year of eligibility.

Jeff Albertson wrote:

J.R. wrote:

Regardless that it was done before, 19 is definitely too old for high school.

A good rule would be that anyone who turns 19 by the beginning of a high school athletic competition, is not eligible to compete in it.

She was 18 for all year in state competition. She will be 19 for a grand total of 12 days at FL. Are you saying she should be 18 until graduation?

Yes.

I don't see how there can be rational debate about this. Because some people have birthdays during the year, there will be some 18 year olds. But someone who is "18 for most of the year and then turns 19 just before graduation" was 17 for most of last year and then turned 18 just before the end of the year. That should have been her last year of eligibility for high school competition.

Asdvccfrd wrote:

She's an Eritrean immigrant so she started high school as a 17 year old. She's a junior now, however this is her last year of eligibility.

To be fair, 19 is only the age she's admitted to.

In all likelyhood, it's gonna more like 22-23.

Hobby runner maybe wrote:

. That should have been her last year of eligibility for high school competition.

Why?

age only matters for males because of testosterone.

girls 18/19 no difference.

Give it a rest as*hole. You and everyone else here know that Verzbikas graduated at 18.

...and the standard age group at your local 5k is 15-19. Nice try though.

80s kid wrote:

Yes this is my opinion. It's not fair for a 19 year old to compete against 17 and 18 year old seniors. That's why they have age groups in your local 5k.

Hobby runner maybe wrote:

Jeff Albertson wrote:

She was 18 for all year in state competition. She will be 19 for a grand total of 12 days at FL. Are you saying she should be 18 until graduation?

Yes.

I don't see how there can be rational debate about this. Because some people have birthdays during the year, there will be some 18 year olds. But someone who is "18 for most of the year and then turns 19 just before graduation" was 17 for most of last year and then turned 18 just before the end of the year. That should have been her last year of eligibility for high school competition.

That is not how it works in Virginia. She is within the cut-off for Va high school competition

80s kid wrote:

High school seniors graduate at 17 or 18 years old. 19 year olds are freshmen or sophomores in college. Isn't it unfair for a 19 year old to compete against these younger kids?

Yawn. In the vast majority of states, you are eligible to compete as long as you are under 19 on September 1. It is not unfair; it is well within the rules and the rules make sense.

chatham wrote:

Today, most seniors are already 18 at the beginning of the school year. This is because parents red-shirt their kids to give them an advantage. When I was a kid, parents wanted their smart kid to skip a grade. Now they want them to be the oldest in the class.

At any rate, she is only a year older (if that) than most seniors.

Parents having smart kids skip a grade is moronic in most cases (admittedly, not in all cases).

Newsflash: the majority of people over the age of 13 are smart enough to complete 12th grade work (with the proper instruction) because it is not that hard. Nearly all 5 year-olds are ready for Kindergarten. That really isn't the point though.

Most 17 year-olds are not mature enough to live on their own. Hell, most 20 year-olds still aren't mature enough to live on their own. That is why many parents choose to start their kid in kindergarten at age 6 if they have a fall birthday. Some may choose to wait even longer. Makes perfect sense and it has nothing to with "red shirting" for academics or athletics.

Jeff Albertson wrote:

J.R. wrote:

Regardless that it was done before, 19 is definitely too old for high school.

A good rule would be that anyone who turns 19 by the beginning of a high school athletic competition, is not eligible to compete in it.

She was 18 for all year in state competition. She will be 19 for a grand total of 12 days at FL. Are you saying she should be 18 until graduation?

The age worriers: 18 yrs 365 days is okay. 19 yrs 0 days is not acceptable.

I don't have a problem with it if she truly is only 19 years old. Similar to the Edward Cheserek and Futsum Zienasellassie situations a few years ago where there is not high confidence in their stated age.

If you don't think some parents red shirt to give their kid an academic or athletic advantage, you are sorely mistaken.

outraged wrote:

Ritz ran at Footlocker, and he's 32 years old!

Bravo!

Read the rules wrote:

There is an amendment to the rules that Africans can compete up to the age of 24 or 25

Awesome, well played sir.

Verifying her age is super easy since she ran at the world champs last year. I can assure you that the iaaf takes verifying ages very seriously.

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/eritrea/weini-kelati-271833

chatham wrote:

162430 wrote:

Parents having smart kids skip a grade is moronic in most cases (admittedly, not in all cases).

Newsflash: the majority of people over the age of 13 are smart enough to complete 12th grade work (with the proper instruction) because it is not that hard. Nearly all 5 year-olds are ready for Kindergarten. That really isn't the point though.

Most 17 year-olds are not mature enough to live on their own. Hell, most 20 year-olds still aren't mature enough to live on their own. That is why many parents choose to start their kid in kindergarten at age 6 if they have a fall birthday. Some may choose to wait even longer. Makes perfect sense and it has nothing to with "red shirting" for academics or athletics.

If you don't think some parents red shirt to give their kid an academic or athletic advantage, you are sorely mistaken.

Oh yes, I know that some people do it for academics/athletics. I believe that is the exception and not the rule though. Typically, if a kid is "old" for their grade (meaning they turn 18 sometime between the spring of their junior year and fall of their senior year), it is because of what I mentioned above. Or, occasionally, it is because they came here from another country and do not speak fluent English. This can lead to them being a year or two "behind". It makes sense and it is not unfair.

This topic often gets blown out of proportion on LRC despite the fact that there are very clear rules in place and the kids who cause most of the discussion (Maton comes to mind) are always well within these rules.