Youth fencing requires proof of birth date to verify age requirements. I do not have a problem with it but I have to ask...... Are their parents out their would would try (or have tried) to pass their kid off as a younger fencer to enter older competitions and vice versa to maintain an edge? Isn't that ultimately a disservice to the fencer? Is this the reason why this rule was implemented?
Are their parents out their would would try (or have tried) to pass their kid off as a younger fencer to enter older competitions and vice versa to maintain an edge?
Yes
Quote:
Originally Posted by seltzerwater
Isn't that ultimately a disservice to the fencer?
Yes
Quote:
Originally Posted by seltzerwater
Is this the reason why this rule was implemented?
Yes
More than being a disservice to the the fencer as a fencer, it is a huge disservice to the fencer as a morally developing person. That a parent would do that boggles the mind.
It's happened in other sports. Danny Almonte is probably the best known example in Little League but there was a birth certificate for him... it just wasn't accurate.
I am not a psychologist, but I think there is a problem entering a kid in ANY tournament that he doesn't belong in. The parents would be teaching that kid to lie. But, perhaps even more damaging, they are telling that kid that he is NO GOOD on his own. That, in order to succeed, he can't be the kid he really is. Basically, that his parents don't believe in him.
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