High school sports eligibility question

[PADad1971]

Jurisdiction

Pennsylvania

My niece is currently in 8th grade and will turn 15 in April 2019 (birthdate is 4/25/2004). She was held back in kindergarten by the school she attended as the school recommended not to move to 1st grade as she struggled as student and was not capable of moving up to the next grade. She has since worked her tail off to do well in middle school and juionr high and gets excellent grades. She plays a competitive girls sport and wants to continue to play in high school. I am reading under PIAA rules that she will not be able to play high school sports because she will turn age 19 before June 30th of her senior year of high school. If she was not held back by the kindergarten school she would be eligible as an 18 year old senior in high school. Our question is can we petition the PIAA for her to play in high school? It was not her or her parents choice to hold her back in kindergarten.
Please advise if there is anything that can be done for her. thank you.

 

[adjusterjack]

Our question is can we petition the PIAA for her to play in high school?

Of course you can but I suspect that your real question is can you SUCCESSFULLY petition the PIAA to allow her to play.

There's no way to predict that.

Have you read all the rules? Is there an appeal process? Have you contacted PIAA and asked if an exception can be made?

 

[Tax Counsel]

I am reading under PIAA rules that she will not be able to play high school sports because she will turn age 19 before June 30th of her senior year of high school.

The rule does not preclude her from participating in high school sports. Here is what the PIAA eligibility rule says:

"To be eligible to participate in grades 10 through 12, you must not have reached your 19th birthday by June 30 immediately preceding the school year. Where you will participate only in grades 7 and 8, you may not have reached your 15th birthday by June 30 immediately preceding the school year; where you will participate only in grades 7 through 9, you may not have reached your 16th birthday by June 30 immediately preceding the school year."

Thus, under that rule, if she reaches age 19 before the start of the school year she is ineligible to play high school sports for that one year. Under your niece's facts, she'll turn 19 during her senior year, not before, so she should be eligible to play all through high school unless she ends up getting set back a year in school again. If she got set back a year, then she'd end up ineligible for only her senior year.

In short, the rule is just meant to keep adults age 19 at the start of the school year from competing against younger kids on high school teams.

 

[zddoodah]

Never mind....

 

[flyingron]

Red-shirt kindergartners.