Quote Originally Posted by sapdad View Post
Im fine with kids playing up.Its been clear at ages 11 and 12 that the gap between the biggest and smallest kids is pretty large anyway so as long as they can physically handle it then why not.Plenty of JDL 12 kids playing NPL 13's too and from all reports the good ones are handling it just fine.There might be a time soon when those kids will stay back for the extra year of development but hopefully coaches/parents make decisions based on the best interests of the kids and they will be fine.
Kids playing up is really more for the parents ego than anything. Seen it many times.
There are many players that can play up but they only fit in not stand out. I havent seen any superstars that really need this. Maybe in 9's there's a fair bit of discrepancy and staying up for a year can help but after that improvements are large. Even the bigger faster players need to work on other skills. Plenty of time to fill in for the age up in NPL Youth.