Disqualified by age

I’ve always been fascinated by how large a part age plays in sports.

In every youth sporting tournament I’ve witnessed, there have been age groupings that, for some reason or other, seem arbitrary and disadvantageous to certain participants. In some sports like golf, boys and girls play against each other until a certain age.

I’m sure everyone has had the experience of being “bullied” by someone who was either more physically developed or simply more experienced.

It can be devastating, especially if you love the game and needed a confidence boost to keep you going. Growing up, I spent countless hours in my garage pretending I was Julius Erving, hitting the title-winning shot in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. It gave me confidence whenever I played against other kids.

When my sons were younger, they went to a non-traditional school, where all their subject matter was age-appropriate, a practice only approximated by mainstream traditional schools. They were even taught a different musical instrument each year because it was proven to strengthen abstract reasoning and mathematical ability. I found that intriguing, since nobody seemed to talk about it, particularly in sports here in the Philippines.

One of the first major physical change children go through arrives late at the age of six. If you remember, our elders in the province used to tell us that, if you lifted your arm, bent it over your head and could reach the ear on the other side of your head, then you were ready for grade school. That has been explained as the growth spurt I am talking about. Apparently, late in a child’s sixth year, his or her limbs elongate, the cheekbones become more prominent, the pudginess on the back of the hand disappears, the waist and jaw become more prominent, and the brain becomes capable of handling more complex tasks. That was deeply personal for me, since I was one of the youngest in class, and as a result, always struggled in the first semester, somehow catching up in the second term.

On another note, when I covered the Junior World Golf Championships, one particular age group always caught my attention. The eleven- to twelve-year old bracket always appeared to end up breaking the heart of the younger kids. I saw it so many times, either the 11-year olds would do well in the early rounds and be run over by the older kids, or simply be overwhelmed at the outset. I saw so many hopes dashed, and so many kids on the cusp of adolescence just give up from heartbreak.

From what I later learned, most 12-year olds also undergo another growth spurt, since they are on the brink of becoming teenagers. They’re physically stronger, psychologically calmer and mentally, often a little more patient. That counts for a lot when you’re down a couple of strokes in an international juniors tournament.

Another example would be our youth basketball programs. In this case, if a child is born a few weeks too soon, he’s considered too old to join. If the team is going to stay together for two to three years, his hopes of being on the Philippine team are dashed, and he will probably give up the sport altogether, unless he is already an exceptional talent.

Imagine if this were known to all parents, sports coaches, trainers, and even the leaders in each sport. We would be able to keep the interest of thousands of children in so many sports. Our talent base would be that much bigger. What if we created age groups for kids who didn’t exactly fit the proper age groupings? Then we would be able to keep almost all of them, and avoid the trauma that some kids grow up associating with sports. Last Monday, I mentioned Canadian youth hockey in my piece on the threshold of success. In Canada, the cut-off for youth hockey is January 1. If you were born after that, you might well end up being the next Wayne Gretzky who will never be discovered, all because of your age.

Rare is the child who can wait it out until his next growth spurt. My older son Vincent was always bigger than most kids, and physically stronger. His younger brother Daniel had to wait longer, since his growth spurts came a bit late. The waiting was exacerbated by Vincent’s always having had such a commanding size advantage to begin with, even though they were only born a year and a half apart. Luckily for Daniel, he was born tough-minded, and always worked his way past his disadvantage. Though he would get frustrated, he didn’t give up, and we pointed out to him that there would be signs that he was catching up. The same thing happened with Vincent, when the competition eventually caught up with him. Now, they’re both hovering around six feet in height, and are both talented young basketball players who love their craft. I’m so proud of them. But imagine if Daniel had gotten tired of being the smallest guy on the team, or Vincent thought that it was the end of the road since everyone else was already as big as he was. Imagine if their parents didn’t know the cause of these differences, we wouldn’t have been able to shield them from the effects.

Perhaps more than being able to recruit more players for our youth and national pools, we could also avoid or undo the damage caused by traumatic experiences children went through simply because they were unaware that each age brings with it its own gifts.