In our area (Texas) we have a high school team competing at middle school only events and taking states spots away from those teams. All the students on the team are high school freshmen. They have stated that since the rules say anyone 15 or younger at vex worlds is a middle school student they are allowed to compete. Are they allowed to do this?
1 Like
Absolutely. Students are defined by their birthday. Checkout the definitions in the manual.
They could also do VEX IQ! I have an 8th grader that is young for his grade that can do VEX IQ through 10th grade.
9 Likes
playing down is something that’s looked down upon by some people but I’m pretty sure it’s allowed. Honestly, there isn’t that big of a difference between young freshman and middle schoolers.
10 Likes
If you check the dates, almost all 9th graders are middle school students and the young 10th grade students are too.
1 Like
Sorry for not getting my thoughts together all in one post…
The GDC changed the “grade” requirement to an “age” requirement this year. They just did it with the release of the manual, and didn’t reach out to teams about this change in particular. The word “grade” doesn’t really mean anything internationally as well.
I agree with the change, but the dates are late.
Why?
The old rules said that 6th graders could be elementary students if they were in a school that included grade 5 but not 7. The idea was that students in their last year at the school would not age out. The initial manual change lined up with most 5th graders being elementary but most 6th graders not. This would isolate those students that were in a school that ended at grade 6. With the manual update in June, the pushed back the dates.
They did the same thing with all the cutoffs except for the upper limit for VRC. The rules initially would have cut out some of my older 8th graders from IQ all together, but the change allowed them all to play.
This is probably the most annoying rule that the GDC has to deal with. There is no real reason to have a cutoff at any real date except to provide continuity. They changed from grade to date, but wanted to maintain the continuity as well… It’s a tricky position.
I have put a lot of thought into this over the last year, but I do have absolutely no inside information… So there is some speculation here.
VRC rule:
IQ rule:
14 Likes
Soccer dealt with this by have U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 …
I think that might be the way to go in the long run. Will see where the GDC is heading with this (actually, this may be also driven by RECF…
9 Likes
I looked at this as a possibility for our alum entering 9th grade, but came to the conclusion it is better learning for them to be competing with 10, 11, and 12 graders…
2 Likes
I need some help. I know of a team of high schoolers, all under the age of 15, who are trying to compete under middle school. In the rules, it’s says if you are 15 or under you can compete in middle school. Are they allowed to compete in middle school if they are currently attending a high school? Any help would be great! (=
Yes and there is a thread on this already!
3 Likes
a similar thread was just created so I don’t think this needs any further discussion
remember that they have to be under 15 before worlds.
4 Likes
So what’s your birthday??? After 5/1/04 and you’re good. You can play IQ too…!!!
2 Likes
I moved answers from another similar topic here.
9 Likes
Personally you would learn more playing up than dominating in the middle school ranks. But to each there own.
1 Like
We had the exact same problem with our middle school team last year. Most of them were freshmen, with a couple younger kids. They would constantly take tournament champion at events. They even took Skills champion at state. None of these events were middle-school only though
I mean, if they’re the same age why not? I don’t see an issue here
1 Like
15 or younger will include some juniors for next year (5/1/2004 will be for next year’s worlds). If you are born between about 8/1/2003 and 7/31/2004, you will be a junior in the 2020-2021 school year. So some juniors and all sophmores/younger should be able to play in IQ and middle school. But, you cannot have earned any high school credits before then, so that would rule out most high schoolers.
The rule is only age based.
4 Likes
Can you please cite the rule from the current game manual that you believe supports this statement?
3 Likes
Why was your middle school team exactly a problem?
If your team meets the definition of middle school aged and student - no problem? If you are saying your middle school team students were not middle school aged per Game Manual - then maybe that is a problem - contact your RECF Regional Support Manager to have the team classified as something other than Middle School.
Not sure what this so-called “loophole” is about back then or even now. Globally the. definition of middle school has been fairly fluid. RECF/GDC came with an age based definition of middle school. Perhaps the issue is not that it is a loophole but rather it uses the term “Middle School” which does not match the understanding in different geographic areas around the globe.
9 Likes
My region, also texas, but southwest texas, has someone who retook high school precalc to meet the requirements to do an extra year of vex after his almost-graduation. I dont like it, but the rules are the rules.